[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 95 (Monday, July 15, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6801-S6802]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              NORTH KOREA

  Mr. BROWNBACK. I want to address the body quickly and briefly but 
importantly on what is happening in North Korea and to North Korean 
refugees coming out of that country.
  Prior to the July 4th recess, my colleagues, Senator Kennedy and 
Senator Allen, and I brought to light the plight of North Korean 
refugees in a hearing before the Immigration Subcommittee. The hearing 
capped a month of activity that involved the passage of resolution on 
North Korean refugees in both the House and the Seante. Both 
resolutions strongly urged the Chinese government not to repatriate 
North Korean refugees back to North Korea. The House version passed by 
406 to 0 and our resolution passed by unanimous consent on June 19, 
2002.
  At our hearing, we heard some very moving testimony from Ms. Lee 
Soon-Ok, a North Korean defector who suffered more than five years in a 
prison camp. We also heard from Ms. Helie Lee, a Korean American writer 
whose memoir, In the Absence of the Sun, movingly highlighted a largely 
hidden and painful secret shared by hundreds of thousands of Korean 
Americans and millions of Koreans--more than 50 years of separation 
among family members and loved ones since the outbreak of the Korean 
War. Few other country and its people has suffered as much.
  In addition, Mr. President, I urged Secretary Powell in both a formal 
consultation and by correspondence on the need of our Department of 
State to allow the processing of North Korean refugees together with 
the Chinese government and the Beijing office of the United Nations 
High Commissioner on Refugees.
  The plight of North Korean refugees, of course, is merely a symptom 
of a far more pressing issue--how to deal with one of the most 
repressive and totalitarian states in the world, the isolated country 
of North Korea ruled by one man, Kim Jong-il.
  Although news regarding the efforts of many in the NGO community and 
countless others working in North East China have been slowly filtering 
into the West, the true nature of the North Korean regime is largely 
hidden and inaccessible.
  It was not until the showing of a dramatic video of five members of 
the Han-mee family being forcibly removed from the Japanese consulate 
in Beijing that the world began to pay attention. Since then, several 
other asylum bids have drawn the attention of mainstream media, 
including the horrifying story of baby-killings in North Korean prison 
camps reported in the New York Times and based on the testimony of Ms. 
Soon Ok Lee, who, as I indicated before, testified at our hearing.
  In June 2002, ABC Nightime broadcast a three-part documentary of the 
North Korean refugee in China by Ms. Kim Jung-eun whose schedule did 
not permit her to testify before our committee. I was told by ABC News 
staff that thousands of Americans have responded to the broadcast with 
e-mails in disbelief and in rage against the North Korean regime. I 
understand that the three programs drew high response from viewers.
  It is estimated that between 2 to 3 million people died of starvation 
and persecution in North Korea from 1995 through 1998 and that up to up 
to 300,000 North Korean refugees in China are living a precarious and 
dangerous life, hiding by day, begging by night, in an effort to avoid 
being captured and repatriated back to North Korea by Chinese and North 
Korean agents brazenly operating inside China
  Of the 300,000 refugees, only 518 refugees successfully defected to 
South Korea this year through June 2002, many of them by taking refuge 
at foreign missions in Beijing and in Shenyang, China.
  These actions by the Chinese are simply unacceptable, not only to 
basic principles and tenets of international human rights, but also by 
the fact that China is a signatory of the International Refugees 
Convention. Hundreds of South Korean, Japanese and western NGO's are 
working inside China to help the refugees, risking their lives and 
capture by the Chinese police. A German doctor who also testified 
before our committee worked in North Korea for a year and a half but 
was evicted by the North Korean regime for disclosing the tragedies of 
the NK people. People like him and others on the ground in China and 
Korea have been some of the most vocal and active in their effort to 
make the whole world aware of the conditions in North Korea and China. 
Many NGO's have taken care of refugee families full-time with their own 
money.
  I've met with many of these people, all of whom are now effectively 
shut down from operating in China. And what they tell me over and over 
is that they simply cannot not ignore what they saw. All of them said 
to me that they could not look away and ignore the refugees, many of 
whom were too scared to even beg for help.
  These NGO's from South Korea, Japan, the U.S., France, and Germany, 
first reported the tragedy of the North Koreans to the outside world. 
These NGOs who are in the best position to know report that food aid 
from South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, simply are not reaching the 
dying people. As I mentioned in a previous statement, I believe it is 
absolutely necessary to condition stringent monitoring of the delivery 
of food aid by NGOs in an effort to determine that they are being 
distributed appropriately. Much of this aid is apparently being 
diverted to feed the million-plus North Korean army and to reward the 
elites and the inner circle around Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang. For this 
reason, many well-respected NGOs, including Doctors Without Borders 
have withdrawn from North Korea.
  More troubling is that these NGO's have confirmed reports of more 
than a dozen prison camps in North Korea, where the prisoners are 
starved, forced to work at hard labor, and tortured to death.
  Aside from the troubling refugee issue, we cannot forget that North 
Korea is a threat to regional and global security. North Korea 
continues its procurement of materials and components for its ballistic 
missile programs from foreign sources, especially through North Korean 
firms based in China. In addition, North Korea has become a ``secondary 
supplier'' of missile technology and expertise to several countries in 
the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. The CIA's 2001 report 
assesses that North Korea is capable of producing and delivering via 
missile warheads or other munitions a variety of chemical agents and 
possibly some biological.
  Furthermore, North Korea refuses to carry out its obligations under 
the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, NPT and the 1994 Agreed Framework. 
Initial IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, inspections and 
intelligence reports in the early 1990s triggered concerns regarding a 
clandestine nuclear weapons program. U.S. and foreign intelligence have 
concluded that the DPRK government of North Korea probably has 
sufficient plutonium for 1 to 5 nuclear weapons. Despite its 
obligations under the NPT and the Agreed Framework, North Korea 
continues to refuse inspections.
  So while it would be reason enough to continue our pressure on North 
Korea and China for the humanitarian violations alone, there are also 
the pressing security threats that the current North Korean government 
poses to U.S. interests which must be dealt with. While refugee and 
nuclear weapons issues will necessitate very different responses--the 
thing they share in common is the alarms they raise about ignoring the 
North Korean problem in all its complexity.
  While I am mindful of the diplomatic sensitivities regarding the need 
to reach out to the North Korean regime, there comes a time when we 
have to confront the truth and tell the truth. Moreover, reconciliation 
efforts have yet to yield any results. There was

[[Page S6802]]

much hope after the historic meeting between President Kim Dae Jung and 
Jong-il in June 2000, that such a gesture would bring about some 
meaningful change.
  As the naval skirmish last month and the continuing problems with the 
North Korean refugees show, the North Korean issue has simply worsened. 
It's time for the North Korean regime to immediately allow 
international monitoring of food aid into the country and to work with 
the international NGO community to alleviate the suffering of its 
people. That may at least stem the tide of refugees crossing over into 
China and being prey to human traffickers and other difficulties faced 
by refugees. But more fundamentally, the North regime itself must begin 
to change itself and join the rest of the world in giving hope and 
freedom to its people.
  The U.S. can not afford to give into the slow-walking of reforms in 
North Korea. For our own security, for the stability of the region and 
for the sake of basic human rights--North Korea must remain a top 
policy focus for U.S. foreign policy. We must keep clear and constant 
pressure on NK and neighboring countries to bring new leadership into 
being. This is a daunting task, but one that we can not afford to 
shirk.
  We have significant refugee flight taking place out of North Korea. 
We have had hearings in the Senate Immigration Committee on this 
particular topic. We have a humanitarian crisis, probably the largest 
in the world, that is taking place. We estimate that there are between 
2 to 3 million people who have died of starvation and persecution in 
North Korea from 1995 to 1998, in a 3-year time period--2 to 3 million 
people. Nobody knows for sure because outside observers are not 
allowed.
  This Nation is the most repressive, closed regime in the world today. 
The world community is feeding those who are left in North Korea. The 
United States and a number of other donating countries are feeding 
about half of the population in North Korea. Much of the food aid we 
are giving North Korea is not getting out to where it is needed. It is 
still held by the leadership in that country.
  We estimate that some 300,000 North Korean refugees are living in 
China today in a precarious and dangerous lifestyle. They are hiding by 
day and begging by night, trying to keep from being caught and sent 
back into North Korea, which is what China does. If they catch people 
from North Korea, they treat them as economic migrants and ship them 
back into starvation, refugee camps, persecution, and probably death.
  Of the 300,000 refugees in China, only 518 refugees have successfully 
defected, gotten out of China and into South Korea or into another 
third country--that is this year, through June of 2002. Many of them 
have done it by taking refugee status at foreign missions in Beijing 
and Shenyang, China. They have rushed embassies in those communities, 
gotten inside, asked for political asylum, it has been granted, and 
they passed to South Korea, generally through a third country--many 
times through the Philippines. I say only 518 this year. If you look at 
the history since the Korean conflict has ended--now 50 years ago--
there have been only several thousand who have defected from North 
Korea into South Korea. Generally, each year, it has been a trickle--
maybe in the teens.
  The North Korean regime has been able to keep people in a dogmatic 
system, saying this regime is the best in the world and saying they are 
being fed by the President and the leadership. Now that trickle is 
beginning to really move. They believe it may be up to a thousand; 
there may be a thousand or more defecting this year alone, which is a 
massive number considering the history.
  Mr. President, the issue I want to bring to light is the role of 
China and the importance of China in allowing these people to live. If 
China will allow these people to pass through, or if China will allow 
the U.N. Commission, or the High Commission on Refugees to establish a 
processing center to determine if these are people who need to be 
allowed to pass into third countries, thousands if not millions of 
people will not have to live in North Korea. If China does not, you are 
going to see thousands, possibly millions more, die of starvation, 
persecution, and other causes.
  China has a choice. They will choose what the status is going to be, 
whether these people will live or die. They need to be confronted 
directly and asked to let these people live, to let them pass through. 
Let them pass through to Mongolia, to South Korea, to other places; but 
don't send them back. If they don't want to have them stay in China, 
allow some place for them to go through, such as a refugee center. But, 
China, make the choice. It is your responsibility and their blood that 
will be on your call as to what you determine you are going to do in 
this particular situation.
  North Korea is a country that is difficult for us or anybody else in 
the world to influence. China is the only country in the world that has 
some influence on North Korea. So it is going to be their choice as to 
whether these people will live or die.
  North Korea needs to change its regime. I don't need to remind 
Members of the Senate of the other problems we have with North Korea. 
They are a supplier of weapons. North Korea has become a secondary 
supplier of missile technology and expertise to several countries in 
the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa. The CIA's 2001 report 
assesses that North Korea is capable of producing and delivering via 
missile warheads, or other munitions, a variety of chemical agents and 
possibly some biological agents as well.
  Mr. President, I draw this to the attention of my colleagues because 
we need to allow refugees to pass and come into the United States as 
well. We will be bringing this issue up again in front of this body. I 
hope we will put pressure on China, which doesn't have a good human 
rights record, so that they can act to save people's lives--if they 
will only allow these people to pass through.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon is recognized.

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