[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4467-S4468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SA 468. Mr. LEE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him
to the bill H.R. 2810, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2018
for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:
At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:
SEC. ___. SENSE OF SENATE ON THE DISAPPEARANCE OF DAVID
SNEDDON.
(a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:
(1) David Louis Sneddon is a United States citizen who
disappeared while touring the Yunnan Province in the People's
Republic of China as a university student on August 14, 2004,
at the age of 24.
(2) David had last reported to family members prior to his
disappearance that he intended to hike the Tiger Leaping
Gorge in the Yunnan Province before returning to the United
States and had placed a down payment on student housing for
the upcoming academic year, planned business meetings, and
scheduled law school entrance examinations in the United
States for the fall.
(3) People's Republic of China officials have reported to
the Department of State and the family of David that he most
likely died by falling into the Jinsha River while hiking the
Tiger Leaping Gorge, although no physical evidence or
eyewitness testimony exists to support this conclusion.
(4) There is evidence indicating that David did not fall
into the river when he traveled through the gorge, including
eyewitness testimonies from people who saw David alive and
spoke to him in person after his hike, as recorded by members
of David's family and by embassy officials from the
Department of State in the months after his disappearance.
(5) Family members searching for David shortly after he
went missing obtained eyewitness accounts that David stayed
overnight in several guesthouses during and after his safe
hike through the gorge, and these guesthouse locations
suggest that David disappeared after passing through the
gorge, but the guest registers recording the names and
passport numbers of foreign overnight guests could not be
accessed.
(6) Chinese officials have reported that evidence does not
exist that David was a victim of violent crime, or a resident
in a local hospital, prison, or mental institution at the
time of his disappearance, and no attempt has been made to
use David's passport since
[[Page S4468]]
the time of his disappearance, nor has any money been
withdrawn from his bank account since that time.
(7) David Sneddon is the only United States citizen to
disappear without explanation in the People's Republic of
China since the normalization of relations between the United
States and China during the administration of President
Richard Nixon.
(8) Investigative reporters and nongovernmental
organizations with expertise in the Asia-Pacific region, and
in some cases particular expertise in the Asian Underground
Railroad and North Korea's documented program to kidnap
citizens of foreign nations for espionage purposes, have
repeatedly raised the possibility that the Government of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) was involved in
David's disappearance.
(9) Investigative reporters and nongovernmental
organizations who have reviewed David's case believe it is
possible that the Government of North Korea was involved in
David's disappearance because--
(A) the Yunnan Province is regarded by regional experts as
an area frequently trafficked by North Korean refugees and
their support networks, and the Government of the People's
Republic of China allows North Korean agents to operate
throughout the region to repatriate refugees, such as
prominent North Korean defector Kang Byong-sop and members of
his family who were captured near the China-Laos border just
weeks prior to David's disappearance;
(B) in 2002, North Korean officials acknowledged that the
Government of North Korea has carried out a policy since the
1970s of abducting foreign citizens and holding them captive
in North Korea for the purpose of training its intelligence
and military personnel in critical language and culture
skills to infiltrate foreign nations;
(C) Charles Robert Jenkins, a United States soldier who
deserted his unit in South Korea in 1965 and was held captive
in North Korea for nearly 40 years, left North Korea in July
2004 (one month before David disappeared in China) and
Jenkins reported that he was forced to teach English to North
Korean intelligence and military personnel while in
captivity;
(D) David Sneddon is fluent in the Korean language and was
learning Mandarin, skills that could have been appealing to
the Government of North Korea after Charles Jenkins left the
country;
(E) tensions between the United States and North Korea were
heightened during the summer of 2004 due to recent approval
of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-
333) that increased United States aid to refugees fleeing
North Korea, prompting the Government of North Korea to issue
a press release warning the United States to ``drop its
hostile policy'';
(F) David Sneddon's disappearance fits a known pattern
often seen in the abduction of foreigners by the Government
of North Korea, including the fact that David disappeared the
day before North Korea's Liberation Day patriotic national
holiday, and the Government of North Korea has a demonstrated
history of provocations near dates it deems historically
significant;
(G) a well-reputed Japanese non-profit specializing in
North Korean abductions shared with the United States its
expert analysis in 2012 about information it stated was
received ``from a reliable source'' that a United States
university student largely matching David Sneddon's
description was taken from China by North Korean agents in
August 2004; and
(H) commentary published in the Wall Street Journal in 2013
cited experts looking at the Sneddon case who concluded that
``it is most probable that a U.S. national has been abducted
to North Korea,'' and ``there is a strong possibility that
North Korea kidnapped the American''.
(b) Sense of Senate.--The Senate--
(1) expresses its ongoing concern about the disappearance
of David Louis Sneddon in Yunnan Province, People's Republic
of China, in August, 2004;
(2) directs the Department of State and the intelligence
community to jointly continue investigations and to consider
all plausible explanations for David's disappearance,
including the possibility of abduction by the Government of
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea;
(3) urges the Department of State and the intelligence
community to coordinate investigations with the Governments
of the People's Republic of China, Japan, and South Korea and
solicit information from appropriate regional affairs and law
enforcement experts on plausible explanations for David's
disappearance;
(4) encourages the Department of State and the intelligence
community to work with foreign governments known to have
diplomatic influence with the Government of the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea to better investigate the
possibility of the involvement of the Government of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea in David Sneddon's
disappearance and to possibly seek his recovery; and
(5) requests that the Department of State and the
intelligence community continue to work with and inform
Congress and the family of David Sneddon on efforts to
possibly recover David and to resolve his disappearance.
______