[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Senate]
[Page 19522]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 NORTH KOREAN HUMAN RIGHTS ACT OF 2004

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
pending business be set aside and that the Foreign Relations Committee 
be discharged from further consideration of H. R. 4011 and the Senate 
proceed to its immediate consideration.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk 
will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4011) to promote human rights and freedom in 
     the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and for other 
     purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
Brownback amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be 
read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the 
table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The amendment (No. 3728) was agreed to.
  (The amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text of 
Amendments.'')
  The bill (H. R. 4011), as amended, was read the third time and 
passed.
  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, for the information of my colleagues, 
what we are considering is something that has been negotiated 
extensively. It has passed the House of Representatives. It has been 
negotiated extensively in the Foreign Relations Committee amongst the 
members interested. It is on the issue of North Korean human rights, or 
the lack thereof, and U.S. policy.
  This bill establishes for the first time--the first time in at least 
a generation--a human rights principle toward North Korea. Everybody is 
familiar with the six-party talks that are going on regarding North 
Korea and nuclear weapons and the threatening nature of the North 
Korean Government, of its testing missiles, of it moving military 
operations to threaten people around the country, in South Korea, in 
Japan, and in particular the United States to give them direct aid to 
guarantee their security, and issues mostly surrounding the nuclear 
weapons development.
  This bill brings into focus a United States Government position on 
North Korean human rights abuses, which are extensive, probably the 
worst human rights abuses in the world. It is at least in the top two 
or three, and that is saying something when you consider what is taking 
place in the Sudan and Iran.
  North Korea lost 10 percent of its population in the last 10 years to 
starvation. We think they have something around 150,000 people, maybe 
more, in the gulag system, political prisoners. There is trafficking of 
individuals taking place within that country. They are counterfeiting 
money. They are drug running. They are gunrunning. This is a criminal 
enterprise that is taking place.
  This bill deals with the human rights issues. It brings it front and 
center. The bill requires a report to be issued. It requires the 
Secretary of State to put forward a person of high distinction to press 
the human rights agenda, and we hope to get the issue of human rights 
in North Korea elevated to the same level or in the level with the 
talks in the six-party system.
  The North Korean Government, when it talks about nuclear weapons 
development, will bluster and talk a great deal and say they need to be 
able to do this and they are threatening, but when you raise the issue 
of human rights, they go silent because there is no response to the 
shame of what they have done to their own people.
  We are elevating this issue and making clear the United States 
Government position on the issue of human rights in North Korea. This 
is a very important bill. I am delighted we passed it this evening.
  I wanted to give that brief explanation of this bill as it moves 
through the process, now to go back to the House and to the President.
  I thank my colleague from Maine for yielding the floor and giving me 
this time. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Talent). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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