[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 136 (Wednesday, October 16, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S10582]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Mr. Helms):
  S. 3122. A bill to allow North Korean's to apply for refugee status 
or asylum; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation 
that will clarify the status of North Korean refugees.
  As a Nation, the United States is the world's leader in the 
protection of refugees. The world takes its lead from the United States 
when reacting to asylum-seekers, and the example we set have far-
reaching implications for those who flee persecution. For this reason, 
we have stood firm against excuses for the denial of basic human rights 
and life's basic liberties.
  The tenuous status of North Korean refugees in China is well 
documented. As we all know from news reports, including several news 
programs, that few North Koreans are able to seek asylum and refuge, be 
it in China or elsewhere. The few that do, however, are functionally 
barred from seeking asylum in the United States or being admitted to 
the United States as refugees. As I understand it, the State Department 
has expressed concerns that the legal hurdle to admitting North Koreans 
refugees is the fact that South Korea automatically conveys its 
citizenship to any escapee from North Korea who makes it to South 
Korea. In short, the State Department claims it cannot, as a matter of 
law, consider any North Korean to be a refugee.
  I am not persuaded that this is the case, but even if we assume that 
to be true, we must stand firm for the proposition that the moral 
obligation that we have for refugees everywhere seeking basic human 
liberties should not be laid aside because of that legal technicality 
and it should not preclude the United State from providing refugee 
protections to North Korean refugees.
  The bill I am introducing today clarifies and fixes that 
technicality. It says quite simply that, for asylum and refugee 
purposes, a North Korean is a North Korean. This bill in no way 
detracts from the generosity of the South Korean government or the 
South Korean people. It does not encourage refugees to choose the 
United States over South Korea as a safe haven. Far from it, since 
those refugees who are able to reach South Korea will go there and will 
be afforded the rights that refugees escaping from persecution 
rightfully deserve whether under various international conventions or 
the South Korean Constitution. Instead, this bill recognizes the 
physical obstacles facing North Korean refugees and removes the 
technicality that compromises our ability to help them.
  The bill I am introducing today has the support of the Lawyers 
Committee on Human Rights, Amnesty International, the International 
Rescue Committee, the U.S. Committee on Refugees, Immigration and 
Refugee Services of America, among others.
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