[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 113 (Thursday, June 18, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3091-S3092]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 COMMEMORATING OTTO FREDERICK WARMBIER AND CONDEMNING THE NORTH KOREAN 
             REGIME FOR THEIR CONTINUED HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, today I rise to ask unanimous consent to 
pass S. Res. 623, which is a resolution commemorating Otto Fredrick 
Warmbier and condemning the North Korean regime for their continued 
human rights abuses.
  Otto Warmbier was a native of my hometown of Cincinnati, OH. He was 
also a young man of great spirit, intellect, and promise.
  He attended the University of Virginia, and in 2015, he flew to North 
Korea on a cultural trip. He went with a tour group.
  At the end of his brief visit there, he was unjustly arrested by 
North Korean security officials at the airport, as he was departing, 
and he was imprisoned for 17 months on trumped-up charges relating to a 
political poster.
  During his captivity, he was badly mistreated and was returned to the 
United States on June 13, 2017, only after falling into a comatose 
state. He never recovered. Otto died on June 19, 2017--6 days later and 
3 years ago tomorrow.
  Senator Brown from Ohio and I have introduced this resolution to 
remember what happened to him, to keep the memory of Otto, alive, and 
to hold the North Korean regime accountable for their gross 
mistreatment, their human rights abuses. Many others, in addition to 
Otto Warmbier, have been subject to those human rights abuses, 
including the North Korean people, whom they continue to repress, even 
starve and mistreat.
  Our resolution calls for the United States to continue to use our 
voice, including at the United Nations and other forums, to speak out 
against the human rights abuses of the North Korean Government.
  It calls for the sanctions enacted under the Otto Warmbier North 
Korea Nuclear Sanctions and Enforcement Act of 2019 to remain fully 
implemented.
  Most importantly, this resolution honors and remembers Otto Warmbier, 
lest we forget what the North Korean dictatorship did to him.
  His parents, Fred and Cindy, have channeled their grief into 
constructive efforts to expose the human rights abuses of the North 
Korean dictatorship, and I commend them for that. No parent should have 
to endure what they have gone through.
  Jane and I plan to visit with them at their home in Cincinnati 
tomorrow on the third anniversary of Otto's death, and I hope to be 
able to hand them a copy of this resolution and to be able to say that 
the entire U.S. Senate voted to approve it.
  This resolution is the right thing to do, and I encourage my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass it by unanimous consent.
  I yield the floor to my colleague from Ohio.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.
  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I want to thank my friend Senator Portman 
and the rest of my colleagues who have been steadfast in their memory 
and remembrance of Otto Warmbier, a young Ohioan, as Rob said, whose 
life was cut short by the North Korean regime's awful human rights 
abuses.
  I take this moment to recognize--I never knew Otto, but I have gotten 
to know his parents and his family, and I especially thank Cindy and 
Fred for their advocacy in memory of their son and turning their grief 
into something so positive for the country and for the world.
  Last year, we worked together on sanctions legislation to send a 
clear bipartisan signal that the United States is serious about 
maintaining strong economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to 
give up its nuclear weapons and to stop its human rights abuses.
  Those abuses took the life of Otto Warmbier. We must continue to 
shine a

[[Page S3092]]

light on what the regime does to its own people and to others.
  I thank Senator Portman for his leadership on this
  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged 
from further consideration and that the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 
623.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 623) commemorating Otto Frederick 
     Warmbier and condemning the North Korean regime for their 
     continued human rights abuses.

  There being no objection, the committee was discharged and the Senate 
proceeded to consider the resolution.
  Mr. PORTMAN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be 
considered made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 623) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of June 
16, 2020, under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')

                          ____________________