[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 13656-13658]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               NORTH KOREAN REFUGEE ADOPTION ACT OF 2011

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass 
the bill (H.R. 1464) to develop a strategy for assisting stateless 
children from North Korea, and for other purposes.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1464

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``North Korean Refugee 
     Adoption Act of 2011''.

     SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

       It is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) thousands of North Korean children do not have families 
     and are threatened with starvation and disease if they remain 
     in North Korea or as stateless refugees in surrounding 
     countries;
       (2) thousands of United States citizens would welcome the 
     opportunity to adopt North Korean orphans living outside 
     North Korea as de jure or de facto stateless refugees; and
       (3) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland 
     Security should make every effort to facilitate the immediate 
     care, family reunification, and, if necessary and 
     appropriate, the adoption of any eligible North Korean 
     children living outside North Korea as de jure or de facto 
     stateless refugees.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Foreign-sending country.--The term ``foreign-sending 
     country''--
       (A) means--
       (i) the country of the orphan's citizenship; or
       (ii) if the orphan is not permanently residing in the 
     country of citizenship, the country of the orphan's habitual 
     residence; and
       (B) excludes any country to which the orphan--
       (i) travels temporarily; or
       (ii) travels as a prelude to, or in conjunction with, his 
     or her adoption or immigration to the United States.
       (2) Hague country.--The term ``Hague country'' means a 
     country that is a signatory of the Convention on Protection 
     of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry 
     Adoption, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993.
       (3) Non-hague country.--The term ``non-Hague country'' 
     means a country that is not a signatory of the Convention on 
     Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of 
     Intercountry Adoption, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993.

     SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ADOPTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHILDREN BY 
                   UNITED STATES CITIZENS.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary of State, in consultation 
     with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall develop a 
     comprehensive strategy for facilitating the adoption of North 
     Korean children by United States citizens.
       (b) Considerations.--In developing the strategy under this 
     section, the Secretary shall--
       (1) consider the challenges that United States citizens 
     would encounter in attempting to adopt children from North 
     Korea who are currently living in Hague countries and non-
     Hague countries regardless of their legal status in such 
     countries;
       (2) propose solutions to dealing with the situation in 
     which a North Korean refugee child does not have access to a 
     competent authority in the foreign-sending country;
       (3) propose solutions to dealing with North Korean refugee 
     children who are not considered habitual residents of the 
     countries in which they are located;
       (4) evaluate alternative mechanisms for foreign-sending 
     countries to prove that North Korean refugee children are 
     orphans when documentation, such as birth certificates, death 
     certificates of birth parents, and orphanage documentation, 
     is missing or destroyed;
       (5) provide suggestions for working with South Korea to 
     establish pilot programs that identify, provide for the 
     immediate care of, assist in the family reunification of, and 
     assist in the international adoption of, orphaned North 
     Korean children living within South Korea;
       (6) provide suggestions for working with international 
     adoption agencies and aid organizations in Asia to identify 
     and establish pilot programs for the identification, 
     immediate care, family reunification, and international 
     adoption of North Korean orphans

[[Page 13657]]

     living outside North Korea as de jure or de facto stateless 
     refugees;
       (7) identify other nations in which large numbers of 
     stateless, orphaned children are living who might be helped 
     by international adoption; and
       (8) propose solutions for assisting orphaned children with 
     Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers who are living in 
     China and have no access to Chinese or North Korean 
     resources.
       (c) Reporting Requirement.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State 
     shall submit a written report to Congress that contains the 
     details of the strategy developed under this section.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Berman) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.


                             General Leave

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I kindly ask unanimous consent that 
all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and to insert extraneous materials into the Record on this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentlewoman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise in strong support of H.R. 1464, the North Korean Refugee 
Adoption Act, of which I am a proud cosponsor.
  I want to thank my good friend from California (Mr. Royce), who is 
the chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and 
Trade on our Foreign Affairs Committee and who is a longtime advocate 
on North Korean human rights and refugee issues, for introducing this 
important bill.
  We are all too keenly aware of the extreme repression, the 
malnutrition, and the poverty suffered by so many inside North Korea 
today. Those threats often take the greatest toll on children.

                              {time}  1820

  Imagine what happens when a child's natural protectors--parents--are 
no longer in the picture. Imagine what happens when that child is born 
or orphaned inside China when the child lacks legal status or 
dependable access to social services: malnutrition, abuse, 
exploitation, lack of education. These are the horrors that are faced 
by orphans of North Korean origin who are effectively stateless and 
without protection.
  Mr. Speaker, the United States is home to the largest ethnic Korean 
population outside of Northeast Asia, and many of the nearly 2 million 
Americans of Korean descent have family ties to North Korea. Numerous 
American families would like to provide caring homes to these stateless 
North Korean orphans. H.R. 1464 is a responsible first step toward 
making that possible.
  This bill does not ignore the unique challenges involved with 
ensuring that North Korean adoptees are genuine orphans and not 
fraudulent victims of trafficking. It does not change U.S. immigration 
law, nor the legal standards for adoption. It does not reduce the need 
for China to begin abiding by its refugee convention obligations to 
vulnerable North Koreans within its borders. And it does not diminish 
our commitment to assisting intact refugee families or to reunifying 
families that are separated.
  What it does do, Mr. Speaker, is require that our State Department 
take a broad look at the diplomatic and documentation challenges facing 
American families who would like to adopt North Korean orphans and 
report to Congress on potential strategies to address them.
  Doing the right thing is not always easy.
  I especially want to applaud those adoptive parents, both past and 
future, who invest their own lives and homes to provide loving families 
for some of the world's most endangered children. H.R. 1464 is a 
welcome step forward, Mr. Speaker, and deserves our unanimous support.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1464.
  I would like to thank the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman 
from California (Mr. Royce), as well as the chairman of the Foreign 
Affairs Committee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for their leadership on this issue 
and for their work in supporting the plight of North Korean refugees.
  Despite North Korea's efforts to appear ``strong and prosperous'' 
this year to celebrate the 100th birthday of the country's founder, 
vast numbers of its people live in dire conditions. Sadly, the North 
Korean regime's misguided priorities, pouring hundreds of millions of 
dollars into its so-called ``space program,'' its nuclear programs, and 
its massive military only underscore its cold-hearted callousness and 
blatant disregard for its own citizens.
  Thousands of North Korean children do not have families to care for 
them and are threatened with starvation and disease if they remain in 
North Korea or as refugees in neighboring countries, especially China. 
Many of the children that have fled the north are hiding and live in 
mortal fear of being caught and sent back to North Korea where they 
would face severe punishment and even death. Equally terrifying is the 
prospect of being sold into bondage by human traffickers in China.
  As a beacon of hope for the rest of the world, the United States must 
do all it can to help these vulnerable and destitute children. That's 
why I'm proud to be a cosponsor of Mr. Royce's legislation, H.R. 1464, 
the North Korea Refugee Adoption Act. This bill calls on the 
Secretaries of State and Homeland Security to formulate and report to 
Congress on a strategy for facilitating the adoption of North Korean 
children by U.S. citizens. Passage of this bill will be the first step 
in helping the thousands of North Korean child refugees living alone in 
foreign lands, and it would provide a glimmer of hope to the American 
families who would welcome the opportunity to adopt North Korean 
orphans.
  The impending passage of this bill speaks to the broad bipartisan 
consensus in Congress regarding the atrocious human rights situation in 
North Korea. As innocent men, women, and children flee the repressive 
North Korean regime at great personal risk, we have a moral obligation 
to assist them. H.R. 1464 is not merely about adoption, but also an 
issue of human rights for the North Korean people. We must continue 
working to ensure that the North Korean people are not forgotten and 
that orphaned North Korean children will get the care and support they 
need.
  I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance 
of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I'm so pleased to yield 6 minutes to 
the other gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the 
Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, 
and the author of this important bill.
  Mr. ROYCE. I thank the gentlelady for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, this is the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act of 2011, 
and I want to thank Chairman Ros-Lehtinen and Ranking Member Berman for 
their support of this bill, and also I think we should thank the 
numerous Korean American organizations from around this country that 
tirelessly advocated on behalf of its passage. They are the groups that 
originally came to me with the heart-wrenching problem that these 
orphans face, and they suggested an idea for a solution. I would like 
to recognize the Defense Forum Foundation, the North Korea Freedom 
Coalition, the Korean Church Coalition for North Korea Freedom, the 
Korean American Coalition, the Korean Churches for Community 
Development, the 300 Pastoral Coalition, and the 318 Partners. These 
are the groups that suggested that with a lot of hard work we might get 
this legislation through. They put through countless phone calls and 
meetings and rallies up here on Capitol Hill and I think really helped 
generate the widespread support that this bill has today.
  Of course, the bill stems from the problem that for over 50 years 
North

[[Page 13658]]

Korea has been one of the world's most repressive regimes. Every 
imaginable freedom that we enjoy here--speech or assembly or 
association or worship, and actually oddly enough, even the right to 
smile--is denied in North Korea by one statute or another. Meanwhile, 
the regime's elites live in luxury. Of course, the people, especially 
in the rural areas of North Korea, starve.
  It is little wonder why tens of thousands of North Koreans, many of 
them women and children, flee to China. For many, it's a last resort. 
It's a final chance to avoid starvation for those children and avoid 
unspeakable oppression. Yet that choice is not always an easy one. That 
path to freedom is very perilous. Those fleeing North Korea often make 
their journey during the winter, and they cross over that Tumen River 
as it's frozen. Those temperatures there are subzero, and the terrain 
is treacherous. It is an obstacle course of checkpoints and of 
informants, and they make that a very dangerous journey. Sadly, but not 
surprisingly, many refugees succumb to the elements. There are many 
bodies frozen along that bank.
  Those that survive also face dangers from human traffickers. As one 
dissident told National Geographic, crossing the Tumen was easy 
compared to what happened next as she was tricked into getting into a 
car that belonged to a sex trafficker. For the next year, she remained 
locked in a room, forced into selling her body. The result of all of 
this is that many North Korean orphans are left in China. Worse yet, 
they are stateless and they are without identification. Estimates show 
that thousands of children are left stateless in the border region 
between North Korea and China, and there they suffer. If they're sent 
back to North Korea, they suffer unimaginably.
  Mr. Speaker, this is why we need to pass this legislation. This bill 
is a good first step in responding to this human rights crisis. 
Specifically, this bill would have the State Department develop a 
strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea.

                              {time}  1830

  While many American families would welcome the opportunity to adopt a 
North Korean orphan, many hurdles remain. For example, children must 
certify that they have lost their parents or legal guardians and that 
they have absolutely no one to rely on. A child orphan in North Korea 
would have a very hard time proving that attestation.
  Most of these children have great difficulty proving this to their 
own understanding, and they have no death certificate of parents, and 
many have no proof that they truly are orphans. By passing this bill, 
we will be taking an important step towards solving these problems.
  We are not committing to any particular policies, but we are 
committing to doing what we can to help these defenseless children. We 
are trying to create a win/win for these desperate young ones, orphans 
living in deplorable conditions and their potential new families.
  Again, I thank you, Chairman Ros-Lehtinen, I thank you for your 
support, and we thank the numerous American Korean organizations, and 
we thank Ranking Member Berman for all of this help. I urge my 
colleagues to support this important bill.
  Mr. BERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
urge support for the legislation.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Royce did a wonderful job 
in summing up our bipartisan position.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, as a cosponsor of H.R. 1464, the North 
Korea Refugee Adoption Act of 2011, I rise to thank Mr. Royce and 
Ranking Member Berman for bringing this important bipartisan bill to 
the floor on September 11, 2012.
  This bill was introduced to assist North Korean children living 
``stateless'' outside of that country who face starvation and neglect 
because they are neither North Korean citizens nor citizens of the 
country where they currently reside. There are many American families 
who would love to give a home to these orphans and refugee children if 
they could. This legislation will help make that process easier.
  The bill encourages the Homeland and State Departments to develop 
strategies to help reunite North Korean refugee children with their 
families or to facilitate the adoption of the children by citizens of 
South Korea, China or other countries. Many of these children have 
Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers but are not claimed by either 
parent, and being stateless, don't have access to the resources of 
either country. This bill will help provide for their immediate care 
and begin the process of getting them settled.
  I am proud to support this bill and ask my colleagues to join me.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the 
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1464.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________