[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 106 (Thursday, July 17, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H7024-H7025]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      NORTH KOREAN REFUGEE CRISIS

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, the actions of China and the UNHCR, in 
response to the North Korean refugee crisis, are reprehensible. China 
has deliberately failed to uphold the obligations under international 
law and the conventions that they have signed and has prohibited the 
UNHCR from carrying out its accepted mandates to assist refugees.
  The Chinese government has prevented North Korean refugees from their 
right to apply for asylum. Any North Koreans who have tried to do this 
have disappeared, and the UNHCR has failed in its mandate to invoke 
binding arbitration against countries that prohibit it from carrying 
out its mandate.
  Chinese officials fear a refugee flood, but refugees do not flee 
their country simply to find refugee assistance, they

[[Page H7025]]

flee because of wide-spread starvation, human rights violations and 
other terrible atrocities and sufferings.
  Madam Speaker, the U.N. should condemn China as well as the UNHCR for 
their failure to uphold their obligations; and Kim Jong Il should step 
down from power; and the North Korean government should stop their 
brutal policies against the North Korean people.

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