[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 92 (Monday, July 11, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H5608-H5610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONDEMNING DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF KOREA FOR ABDUCTION AND 
   CONTINUED CAPTIVITY OF CITIZENS OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA AND JAPAN

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 168) condemning the 
Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the abductions and continued 
captivity of citizens of the Republic of Korea and Japan as acts of 
terrorism and gross violations of human rights, as amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                            H. Con. Res. 168

       Whereas since the end of the Korean War, the Government of 
     the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has kidnapped 
     thousands of South Korean citizens and as many as a hundred 
     Japanese citizens, including Rumiko Masumoto, Megumi Yokota, 
     and Reverend Kim Dong-shik;
       Whereas the forced detention and frequent murder of those 
     individuals abducted by North Korea have caused untold grief 
     and suffering to their families;
       Whereas on September 17, 2002, after considerable pressure 
     from the Government of Japan, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il 
     admitted that agents of his government had abducted thirteen 
     Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s and assured Japanese 
     Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that this would never happen 
     again;
       Whereas despite assurances to the contrary, North Korea 
     continues to order and carry out abductions, and, as recently 
     as August 8, 2004, North Korean agents operating along the 
     Chinese border kidnapped Ms. Jin Kyung-sook, a former North 
     Korean refugee and South Korean passport-holder;
       Whereas the abduction policy of North Korea has been 
     integral to its espionage and terrorist activities, and 
     abductees have been kidnapped to work as spies, to train 
     North Korean agents in language, accents, and culture, and to 
     steal identities, as in the case of Mr. Tadaaki Hara;
       Whereas the Pyongyang regime used abductee Ms. Yaeko 
     Taguchi as the Japanese language instructor for North Korean 
     terrorist Kim Hyon-hee, who was caught carrying a Japanese 
     passport after planting a bomb on Korean Air Lines flight 858 
     that killed 115 people in 1987;
       Whereas many victims of North Korean abduction have been 
     seized during terrorist attacks, as in the hijacking of South 
     Korean planes in 1958 and 1969, and, decades later, Pyongyang 
     continues to hold twelve passengers of a hijacked Korean Air 
     flight, including passenger Mr. Chang Ji-young and flight 
     attendant Ms. Song Kyong-hi, who has since been allowed a 
     brief visit by her South Korean family;
       Whereas North Korean agents have hijacked numerous South 
     Korean ships and kidnapped the seamen and fishermen aboard 
     the vessels, such as Choi Jong-suk, Kim Soon-keun, and ten 
     other crewmen of the Dongjin 27, a ship that was seized in 
     1987, and Seoul estimates that hundreds of these abductees 
     are still alive in North Korea;
       Whereas boat hijackings and the kidnapping of fishermen 
     have devastated South Korean fishing communities, such as 
     Nongso village on the southern island of Geoje, a community 
     of 210 people that lost 14 sons, husbands, and fathers when 
     North Korea seized three ships in 1971 and 1972;
       Whereas the North Korean authorities conspired with members 
     of the Japanese Red

[[Page H5609]]

     Army, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the 
     United States Department of State, to kidnap Keiko Arimoto, a 
     young Japanese woman studying abroad;
       Whereas the Unification Ministry of the Republic of Korea 
     has confirmed that 486 abduction cases involving South Korean 
     citizens remain unresolved, and that these cases include 
     fishermen, seamen, airline passengers, teachers, students, 
     and pastors, many of whom are still alive and being held in 
     North Korea;
       Whereas North Korean agents have abducted children, causing 
     unimaginable anguish to parents who live decades with the 
     uncertainty of what has happened to their child, as in the 
     cases of Takeshi Terakoshi, a thirteen-year-old boy kidnapped 
     from a fishing boat with his two uncles, and Lee Min-gyo and 
     Choi Seung-min, two seventeen-year-old friends abducted off a 
     beach in South Korea;
       Whereas North Korean agents kidnapped thirteen-year-old 
     Megumi Yokota, as she was walking home from school, and 
     subsequently reported that she married and had a daughter in 
     North Korea before committing suicide in 1993, and that 
     Megumi's daughter remains there separated from her family in 
     Japan;
       Whereas on April 5, 1971, North Korean agents abducted Yu 
     Song-gun, a South Korean diplomat stationed at the Embassy of 
     the Republic of Korea in West Germany, his wife, and two 
     young daughters, ages 7 and 1, while the family was believed 
     to be in Berlin;
       Whereas the Pyongyang regime has abducted a number of South 
     Korean ministers who were bravely working to rescue North 
     Koreans escaping on the underground railroad through China, 
     including Reverend Ahn Seung-woon and Reverend Kim Dong-shik, 
     the latter of whose welfare is of particular importance to 
     representatives of the State of Illinois;
       Whereas on April 21, 2005, the Seoul Central District Court 
     convicted Chinese citizen Ryu Young-hwa of assisting North 
     Korean agents in the abduction of Reverend Kim and, further, 
     that a Chinese court convicted a North Korean citizen of 
     masterminding the abduction of Reverend Ahn, and deported the 
     agent to North Korea in July 1997 following a two-year prison 
     term;
       Whereas some of the abductees have risked their lives in 
     trying to escape North Korea, as in the case of South Korean 
     fisherman Im Kuk-jae, who has twice attempted to escape since 
     his kidnapping in 1987, and is now believed to be imprisoned 
     in one of North Korea's notorious labor camps;
       Whereas the North Korean regime continues to deceive the 
     international community regarding its ongoing abductions and 
     has furnished false information concerning eight Japanese 
     abductees, including suspicious accounts of their supposed 
     premature deaths;
       Whereas the Government of North Korea has never 
     convincingly accounted for Ms. Rumiko Masumoto and Mr. 
     Shuichi Ichikawa, kidnapped by Pyongyang agents from a beach 
     in Japan on August 12, 1978, and claims that Mr. Ichikawa 
     drowned in the sea, despite his dislike of swimming, and that 
     the formerly healthy Ms. Masumoto died of a heart attack at 
     the age of 27;
       Whereas North Korea claims abductees Mr. Toru Ishioka and 
     Ms. Keiko Arimoto, who were kidnapped separately in Europe 
     and later married, supposedly died together with their small 
     daughter of gas poisoning in 1988, two months after they were 
     successful in getting a letter out of North Korea to family 
     members in Japan;
       Whereas although the Pyongyang regime claimed to return the 
     alleged cremated remains of Mr. Kaoru Matsuki and Ms. Megumi 
     Yokota to Japanese officials, both remains appear not to be 
     authentic, and, according to Pyongyang, the bodies of the six 
     remaining Japanese abductees have conveniently been washed 
     away during flooding and cannot be recovered to verify the 
     causes of their untimely deaths;
       Whereas despite the efforts of the Japanese Government, the 
     Pyongyang regime continues to deny any knowledge of the 
     abductions of Mr. Yutaka Kume, Mr. Minoru Tanaka, and Ms. 
     Miyoshi Soga, the mother of another acknowledged abductee, 
     despite overwhelming evidence of North Korean collusion in 
     their disappearances;
       Whereas North Korean abductions have not been limited to 
     northeast Asia and many documented abductees have been 
     kidnapped while abroad, such as Mr. Lee Chae-hwan, a young 
     MIT graduate student traveling in Austria, and Mr. Ko Sang-
     moon, a South Korean teacher kidnapped in Norway, making the 
     issue of serious concern to the international community;
       Whereas there have been credible reports that North Korea 
     may have abducted citizens from many other countries in 
     addition to South Korea and Japan, including persons from 
     China, Europe, and the Middle East;
       Whereas North Korea routinely engaged in the kidnapping of 
     South Korean citizens during the Korean War from 1950 to 
     1953, and, according to a 1956 survey conducted by the Korean 
     National Red Cross, 7,034 South Korean civilians were 
     abducted during the conflict;
       Whereas Pyongyang has refused to allow the release of a 
     single wartime abductee despite a provision allowing civilian 
     abductees to return home in Article III of the Korean War 
     Armistice Agreement, a document signed by representatives 
     from the United States, North Korea, and China;
       Whereas for more than fifty years, North Korea has held 
     South Korean prisoners-of-war captured during the Korean War, 
     in clear violation of Article III of the Korean War Armistice 
     Agreement signed on July 27, 1953, and the South Korean 
     Ministry of National Defense estimates that 542 captives are 
     still alive in North Korea, according to testimony given 
     before the National Assembly in February 2005;
       Whereas according to the testimony of prisoners-of-war who 
     have successfully escaped from North Korea, South Korean 
     prisoners-of-war have been forced to perform hard labor for 
     decades, often in mines, and are harshly treated by the 
     Pyongyang regime;
       Whereas after being forcibly held in North Korea for fifty-
     one years, South Korean prisoner-of-war Han Man-taek, age 72, 
     escaped to China, was detained by Chinese police and forcibly 
     repatriated to North Korea earlier this year, where he 
     inevitably faced punitive measures and possible execution; 
     and
       Whereas these South Korean prisoners-of-war served under 
     the United Nations Command, fighting alongside their American 
     and Allied fellow soldiers, and therefore are the direct 
     concern of the Allied nations who contributed forces during 
     the Korean War: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
     concurring),  That Congress--
       (1) condemns the Government of the Democratic People's 
     Republic of Korea for the abduction and continued captivity 
     of citizens of the Republic of Korea and Japan as acts of 
     terrorism and gross violations of human rights;
       (2) calls upon the North Korean Government to immediately 
     cease and desist from carrying out abductions, release all 
     victims of kidnapping and prisoners-of-war still alive in 
     North Korea, and provide a full and verifiable accounting of 
     all other cases;
       (3) recognizes that resolution of the nuclear issue with 
     North Korea is of critical importance, however, this should 
     not preclude United States Government officials from raising 
     abduction cases and other critical human rights concerns in 
     any future negotiations with the North Korean regime;
       (4) calls upon the United States Government not to remove 
     the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the Department 
     of State's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism until such 
     time that North Korea renounces state-sponsored kidnapping 
     and provides a full accounting of all abduction cases; and
       (5) admonishes the Government of the People's Republic of 
     China for the forced repatriation to North Korea of Han Man-
     taek, a South Korean prisoner-of-war and comrade-in-arms of 
     the United States, and for its failure to exercise sovereign 
     control over teams of North Korean agents operating freely 
     within its borders.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution authored by 
the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) which brings the largely 
untold story to the attention of the American people, as well as to the 
international community, of the continued involvement of the North 
Korean regime in the kidnapping of thousands of innocent people. These 
abductions began more than half a century ago according to a survey of 
the Korean National Red Cross, which documented the kidnappings of over 
7,000 South Koreans during the Korean War.
  Those abducted represent a wide cross-section of society from both 
South Korea and Japan: film producers and fishermen, housewives and 
ministers, airline attendants and university students, mothers and even 
children. North Korean agents did not discriminate in their cold and 
calculated selection of potential victims. Cases through the years 
include the 1977 abduction of a 13-year-old Japanese girl by North 
Korean frogmen who came ashore in her country.
  As recently as August of 2004, a former North Korean, now a South 
Korean, passport holder, was reported by her husband as having been 
kidnapped in China by agents of North Korea.
  Officially sanctioned kidnapping represents horrific behavior, and it 
raises the question as to whether abduction should be cited as 
terrorist activity. Should Pyongyang remain on the State Department's 
list of state sponsors of terrorism because of regime collusion in such 
reprehensible activity? The kidnapping and subsequent murder in 
Pakistan of American journalist Daniel Pearl in the months following 
the attacks of September 11 seems to have answered that question once 
and for all.
  Organized kidnapping does constitute an act of terrorism. The fact 
that

[[Page H5610]]

Pyongyang has conspired with the Japanese Red Army, a designated 
terrorist organization, is a clear indication of its own connection to 
terrorist activities.
  The United States and other allies who fought together in the Korean 
War under the banner of the United Nations have a direct interest in 
the forced detention of certain individuals by the North Korean regime. 
Those detained include, according to a South Korean Ministry of 
National Defense estimate, over 500 South Korean prisoners of war held 
over half a century, against their will and in violation of the 1953 
Korean War Armistice agreement. The fact that they had been held for 
more than 50 years in horrific conditions that include forced labor is 
of deep concern to both Congress and the people of the United States.
  Those kidnapped also include a South Korean citizen who was then a 
student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as a 
South Korean missionary who is a spouse of a resident of the State of 
Illinois. Those cases are of direct concern to Members of Congress.
  Mr. Speaker, we all recognize that resolution of the nuclear issue on 
the Korean peninsula is of critical importance. We welcome Pyongyang's 
decision announced over the weekend to return to the Six-Party Talks 
later this month as a first step back from the brink. Let us hope this 
leads to concrete progress.
  North Korea has asked for signs of respect from the United States in 
connection with its decision to return to the negotiating table in 
Beijing. However, the North Korean regime must recognize that in order 
to win the respect that it craves from the United States and the 
international community, it must begin to behave in acceptable ways. 
Continued gross human rights violations, including the abductions of 
persons from South Korea, Japan and other countries, are absolutely 
deplorable and will only bring additional dishonor to the North Korean 
regime, and certainly they are not means for winning the respect and 
acceptance by the international community.
  Pyongyang should immediately cease and desist from carrying out 
abductions, release all victims of kidnappings and prisoners of war 
still alive in North Korea, and provide a full and verifiable 
accounting of all other cases. Only then can a reformed North Korea 
take its place as a full member in the community of nations.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and I thank 
the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for overseeing this important 
resolution that was offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman 
Hyde).
  Mr. Speaker, over the past 50 years, the North Korea Government has 
systematically kidnapped hundreds of innocent citizens of foreign 
countries. Young men and women from Japan and South Korea have been 
kidnapped by North Korean agents from beaches in Japan, fishing boats 
off the South Korean coast, and the border region of China near North 
Korea. Left behind have been hundreds of families desperately seeking 
the return of their loved ones.
  While a few Japanese citizens were finally allowed to return to their 
families in Japan in 2002, many more remain behind, along with hundreds 
of kidnapped citizens from South Korea.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States has many issues which must be 
negotiated with the North Koreans, from their nuclear program to human 
rights. We are therefore encouraged by the announcement over the 
weekend that the Six-Party Talks will resume at the end of July in 
Beijing. This resolution makes it clear that the issue of North Korean 
abductees must be part of any dialogue with the North Korean leadership 
and that our countries will never have fully normal relations until all 
questions surrounding the abductees have been answered.

                              {time}  1415

  Mr. Speaker, as we meet today, there are hundreds of Japanese and 
South Korean families desperately seeking knowledge about long lost 
relatives kidnapped by North Korea. It is our duty to make every effort 
to reunite these families with their loved ones and to get them the 
information they have been seeking for decades.
  I strongly support this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to do so 
as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pearce). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) that the House 
suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 
168, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds of 
those present have voted in the affirmative.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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