[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 125 (Wednesday, October 6, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1799]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACT OF 2004

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 4, 2004

  Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 4011, the North 
Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, and urge all members to support this 
important legislation. The leadership of the North Korean government 
has proven to be volatile and unpredictable with a tight rein on a very 
closed, repressed society. The North Korean government is one of the 
worse abusers of human rights in the world. Freedom of religion does 
not exist and the government controls all information, expression, and 
access to media. Despite international aid efforts, it is estimated 
that 2 million North Koreans have died of starvation in the last 10 
years. One out of every ten children is malnourished.
  There are an estimated 200,000 political prisoners in camps. 
Prisoners are often used as slave labor and conditions in these camps 
are extremely harsh. Many prisoners die from disease, starvation, 
beatings, and torture.
  In 2002 a former female political prisoner, who testified before 
Congress about the conditions in these camps described: kneeling 
Christians in a prison camp having molten steel poured over them by 
guards because they would not recant their faith; prisoners quarantined 
into small rooms because of illness and then being forced to lay on top 
of each other such that all of those underneath were suffocated and 
died; prisoners used as lab experiments; and numerous executions. The 
list of horrendous conditions goes on.
  The North Korea Human Rights Act reaffirms that human rights in North 
Korea should remain a key concern in future dialogue and conditions 
direct aid to North Korea upon substantial improvements in transparency 
and accountability.
  I call on every member of Congress to vote in favor of this important 
legislation. We must send a strong message to Kim Jong Il that the 
world will not sit by while his government systemically abuses its 
citizens.

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