[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 107 (Thursday, June 22, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H5056-H5057]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TIME TO BAN TOURIST TRAVEL TO NORTH KOREA
(Mr. WILSON of South Carolina asked and was given permission to
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, Otto Warmbier was a
shining example of what American families hope for sons and daughters:
intellectually curious, interested in the world, and bright. Sadly,
Otto was murdered by the North Korean dictatorship. By imprisoning him
under sham charges, the Communist totalitarian North Korean regime is
clearly responsible for his death.
Otto's story highlights the brutality of the North Korean murderers,
one that wrongfully imprisons American citizens and uses them as
bargaining chips in an effort to gain attention on the world stage. It
is past time we strongly restrict tourist travel to this Potemkin
atrocity.
I am grateful to have introduced bipartisan legislation, with
Congressman Adam Schiff, that would enable the Treasury Department to
regulate travel to North Korea through licenses, and no licenses would
be able to be granted for tourist travel. Foreign Affairs Committee
Chairman Ed Royce has been instrumental for legislative success.
We will be most successful defeating brutality by denying the
dictatorship any source of income and depriving it of the opportunity
to use innocent Americans like UVA student Otto Warmbier as hostages.
[[Page H5057]]
In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget
September the 11th in the global war on terrorism.
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