[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 21 (Thursday, February 4, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E105]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   DIVIDED FAMILIES REUNIFICATION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GRACE MENG

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, February 4, 2021

  Ms. MENG. Madam Speaker, I rise today to announce the reintroduction 
of my Divided Families Reunification Act, and to raise the voices of 
families who have been separated for decades both across the DMZ and 
across the Pacific Ocean.
  Over seventy years ago, millions of Koreans were plunged into a 
harrowing war that brought misery, death, and destruction to their 
lives. Since then, the war has been frozen by an armistice agreement--
signed on July 27, 1953--that persists to today. The division of the 
Korean Peninsula into South and North Korea separated millions of 
Koreans from their family members. Through the years, there have been 
some agreed upon reunions between South and North Koreans. For Korean 
Americans, however, there is no pathway for such reunions, as they have 
not been permitted to participate in these inter-Korean family 
reunions. Many of these Americans are in their 70s through 90s, and 
time is of the essence to be reunited with their families. I have had 
the honor to meet some of these divided Korean American family members, 
and it breaks my heart that their chance of a reunion with their loved 
ones grows less likely each day.
  As a member of the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee on the 
House Appropriations Committee, I am proud to have secured provisions 
in the Fiscal Year 2020 and 2021 accompanying reports that support the 
reunification of Korean Americans and their families in North Korea.
  The unresolved status of the war continues to impact multiple 
generations of Korean Americans, particularly women, in myriad ways. 
All these years later, many survivors of the war are still haunted by 
their trauma. And younger generations who are responsible for their 
caregiving often internalize this unresolved grief.
  This is why I am proud to reintroduce the Divided Families 
Reunification Act with Congressman Van Taylor, which requires the 
Secretary of State or a designee to consult with officials in South 
Korea on potential opportunities to reunite Korean American families 
with family members in North Korea. This bill will also require the 
Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights to submit a report on the 
opportunities for video reunions between Korean Americans and family 
members in North Korea.
  I encourage all my colleagues to cosponsor this bipartisan bill, 
which unanimously passed the House of Representatives during the 116th 
Congress.

                          ____________________