Calling for the repatriation of POW/MIAs and abductees from the Korean War.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 376) calling for the repatriation of POW/ MIAs and abductees from the Korean War, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am so pleased to rise in strong support of House Resolution 376, calling for the repatriation of POWs, MIAs, and abductees from the Korean War. It is fitting that this resolution was introduced by one of the House's own Korean war vets, Congressman Charlie Rangel. He hasn't had a bad day since.

Mr. Rangel received a Purple Heart for the wounds he received in fighting his way out of an ambush by Chinese forces in subzero temperatures in the early months of the Korean War. Mr. Rangel also received a Bronze Star for his valor.

Mr. Rangel shares this with Members Sam Johnson, Howard Coble, and John Conyers, Korean veterans all, a personal knowledge of how crucial this resolution is in addressing unresolved issues from that long ago conflict.

Another person who understands the critical importance of this resolution is the President of the Korean War Abductees Families Union, who flew almost halfway across the globe from Seoul, Korea to be here and witness the consideration of this resolution on the House floor. Ms. Lee was a mere 18-month-old baby when her father was taken away by the North Koreans, not to be seen again for the past 6 decades.

Mr. Speaker, General MacArthur, returning from the Korean front in 1951, famously told the U.S. Congress and the American people that ``old soldiers never die, they just fade away.'' How sadly ironic that some of the old soldiers of the Korean conflict in which General MacArthur served have indeed faded away into a North Korean gulag.

But through this resolution, we clearly demonstrate that these old soldiers will not be allowed to just fade away into the fog of war. This resolution reminds us that 8,000 Americans missing in action in Korea remain unaccounted for, and that an estimated 73,000 South Korean POWs were not repatriated and were held in North Korea against their will.

In addition, approximately 100,000 South Korean citizens were forcibly abducted by North Korea during the Korean conflict.

The recent U.S.-North Korea agreement to resume the search for the remains of an estimated 5,500 U.S. soldiers lost inside North Korea is welcomed by American families, those who have endured 60 years of unresolved grief over the loss of their loved ones.

It is our hope that the procedures for payment of the cost of the MIA recovery by our Department of Defense are more transparent than the delivery of suitcases full of dollars to North Korean generals, as was done in the past.

We have also the highest respect for the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command in Hawaii, which processes our soldiers' remains once they make that final journey home from Korea. I am certain that those who seek to identify remains are aware of Ronald Reagan's famous adage, ``trust, but verify.''

And this applies doubly to North Korea. Let us not forget that only a few years ago, Pyongyang provided our Japanese allies with the purported remains of a 13-year old schoolgirl abducted to North Korea many years before, which turned out to be bogus.

We do not want to see any of our POW/MIA families so cruelly tricked by North Korea. Pyongyang must come clean on its past armistice violations and war crimes by returning any remaining POW and MIA remains and abductees to their waiting loved ones.

By adopting this important resolution, the House will not only recognize the valor of those who served during the Korean War, like Mr. Rangel before us, but will honor those who serve today on the Cold War's last frontier along the DMZ.

I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support this important resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to rise in strong support of House Resolution 376, ``Calling for the repatriation of POW/MIAs and abductees from the Korean War.''

It is fitting that this resolution was introduced by one of the House's own Korean War veterans, Congressman Charles Rangel.

Mr. Rangel received a purple heart for the wounds he received in fighting his way out of a ambush by Chinese forces in subzero temperatures in the early months of the Korean War.

Mr. Rangel also received a bronze star for his valor.

Mr. Rangel shares with Members Sam Johnson, Howard Coble, and John Conyers, Korean War veterans all, a personal knowledge of how crucial this resolution is in addressing unresolved issues from that long-ago conflict. Another person who understands the critical importance of this resolution is Miss Lee Mi-il, President of the Korean War Abductee Families Union, who flew almost halfway across the globe from Seoul, Korea to be here and witness the consideration of this resolution on the House Floor.

Miss Lee has spent the last decade working on the abduction issue as chronicled in a recent New York Times article.

She was a mere eighteen month-old baby when her father was taken away by the North Koreans, not to be seen again for the past six decades.

Miss Lee's 89 year-old mother is still waiting at the family home for the return of her long-missing husband.

As the North Korean famine in the mid-nineties led to a breakdown of control both inside North Korea and along the Chinese border, the world was shocked by the sudden emergence of a number of old men who wandered into China.

These were old South Korean soldiers, allies of the United States, held secretly and against their wills for decades, in violation of the Armistice, as virtual slaves in North Korean coal mines.

General MacArthur, returning from the Korean front in 1951 famously told the U.S. Congress and the American people that ``old soldiers never die, they just fade away.''

How sadly ironic that some of the old soldiers of that Korean conflict in which General MacArthur served have indeed faded away--into a North Korean gulag.

And so they became the forgotten old soldiers of that conflict long labeled ``the forgotten war.''

We must be completely assured by the continued efforts of our government and our allies that there is not one old American soldier among these South Korean POWs still captive bound in the North Korean gulag!

By this resolution we clearly demonstrate that these old soldiers will not be allowed to just fade away into the fog of war.

This resolution reminds us that 8,000 American MIAs from Korea remain unaccounted for and that an estimated 73,000 South Korean POWs were not repatriated and were held in North Korea against their wills.

In addition, approximately one hundred thousand South Korean citizens were forcibly abducted by North Korea during the Korean conflict.

This forced wartime abduction of civilians by North Korea represents a crime for which Pyongyang must both accept responsibility and make restitution, including providing for the safe return of all surviving victims to their homes.

The recent U.S.-North Korea agreement to resume the search for the remains of an estimated 5,500 U.S. soldiers lost inside North Korea is welcomed by the American families who have endured sixty years of unresolved grief over the loss of their loved ones.

It is our hope that the procedures for payment of the costs of MIA recovery by our Department of Defense are more transparent than the delivery of suitcases full of dollars to North Korean generals as was done in the past.

We also have the highest respect for the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command in Hawaii which processes our soldiers' remains once they make the final journey home from Korea.

I am certain that those who seek to identify remains are aware of Ronald Reagan's famous adage ``trust but verify.''

This applies doubly to North Korea.

Let us not forget that only a few years ago Pyongyang provided our Japanese allies with the purported remains of a thirteen year-old school girl abducted to North Korea many years before.

This girl's family faced the additional pain of being victimized by North Korea a second time when Japanese forensic experts concluded that those remains were bogus.

We do not want to see any of our POW/MIA families so cruelly tricked by North Korea!

Pyongyang must come clean on its past Armistice violations and war crimes by returning any remaining POWs, MIA remains and abductees to their waiting loved ones!

By adopting this resolution, the House will not only recognize the valor of those who served during the Korean War but will honor those who serve today on the Cold War's last frontier along the DMZ.

I strongly urge all my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, for our closing speaker, I am pleased to recognize for such time as he may consume my good friend from California (Mr. Royce), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade and a cosponsor of this important resolution.

Let me thank so much for the sensitivity and support that the gentlelady from Florida and chairman of this committee, for the strong support and the friendship that you've extended not only to me but to the people that you have felt their pain even though the hostilities are over, and the courtesy that Ranking Member Berman has given in allowing me to open the discussion on this important debate.

As most of you know, in 1950 the Communist North Koreans invaded South Korea, crossing a line that Russia and the United States had settled in what they called the 38th Parallel. Well, you can separate a geographic area, but you cannot separate a people that have the same background, the same language, and the same culture.

Nor can you engage in a war and insist that you are not going to abide by the international obligations that even in those types of hostilities most nations abide by. We have had close to 2 million American soldiers, men and women, in Korea with allies and friends in the United Nations to stop this hostile communist unwarranted takeover of South Korea. In that war over 50,000 Americans were killed; double that number were wounded; and we had thousands of people that were just taken as prisoners of war, or they were missing in action.

There was a time that the regime in North Korea was helping the State Department and the United States in finding where these bodies are located and with some success. When you lose a loved one, at some point in time it has to come to closure, and when you know that the people could have these bodies and for evil intent not respond to the basic human needs of those who suffered so much, it seems to me that this Congress and the executive branch should insist that a part of our priorities in dealing with North Korea is that they allow and cooperate with us in finding the remains of those people who fought for this great country and because their families and their friends have suffered so much pain.

As it relates to the South Koreans, they even sacrificed more lives. They were not hostile. They were not bothering anybody when this hostility came to such an extent that the whole world, almost, condemned it. And of course the Second Infantry Division that I served in in 1950 was the first to lead the United States and face the enemy and joining with our allies we were able to drive them to the North Korean border with China.

As most of you know, the Chinese entered with hundreds of thousands of people, tens of thousands of volunteers, and we found that many lives were lost.

In the course of this, South Koreans that were not in North Korea, they were in the northern part of their country. South Koreans that were captured, South Koreans that fought, South Koreans that were professors, workmen and what-not, were captured, held hostage and the worst of all, separated from their families and friends.

As I said, you can politically separate a country. You can draw an imaginary line on the map, but the truth of the matter is that the South Koreans have suffered long enough. They have really become our friends. They have become the sentinel of democracy in this part of the world. They have become one of our strongest trading partners, and we never have to ask them for help. They're always there.

When Korea is in trouble, we will be there for them; when America is in trouble, we don't have to call on South Korea.

So I want to thank the committee members and this Congress and this Nation not to forget our friends, and especially not to forgot those who still mourn those who gave up their lives for their great countries, both for South Korea and for the United States of America. And we hope that through this effort, the State Department will resume looking for the Americans who put themselves in harm's way and their families have no knowledge where they are.

We would like to thank Ms. Lee and all of the people who have come here to convince us that these families have to be reunited, and America will see that it is done. I thank you for the courtesy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 376, calling for the repatriation of POWs, MIAs, and abductees from the Korean War.

I am going to yield 5 minutes to the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), himself a Korean War veteran, as our chairman has mentioned, to open the debate on this issue.

(Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in strong support of House Resolution 376, calling for the repatriation of POWs, MIAs, and abductees from the Korean War, and I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I'd like to thank the sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from New York, Mr. Rangel--himself a Korean War veteran--and the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, for their leadership on this issue.

This resolution calls attention to one of the most tragic issues still lingering from the Korean War: the fate of soldiers taken prisoner during the war and missing in action, and civilian South Korean citizens abducted by North Korea.

The Defense Department lists almost 8,000 American service members from the Korean War who remain unaccounted for to this day. In my home state of California, there are 614 individuals whose final status is unknown.

For the families of those American POWs or MIAs, they must carry on their lives without the benefit of having final closure or peace.

Between 1996 and 2005, the Defense Department conducted joint field activities in both South and North Korea that resulted in the recovery of over 220 sets of remains. Recovery operations in North Korea were suspended in 2005, but recently this past October, the United States and North Korea agreed to resume operations next year to search for and recover the remains of American POWs and MIAs.

This resolution shows our solidarity with our troops who were captured or went missing during the Korean War, and affirms that we will never forget our duty to bring them home.

A second element of this resolution takes note of South Korean POWs and civilian abductees from the Korean War.

The exact number of South Korean POWs held in North Korea after the war is unknown, but it is estimated that as many as 73,000 South Korean prisoners were not repatriated to the South following the war. Some of them may still be alive in North Korea.

North Korea also abducted tens of thousands of South Korean civilians, mainly civil servants, teachers, writers, judges, and business people during the war. North Korea has continued to deny that it abducted these civilians and that any of them may still exist, despite testimony proving otherwise.

With this resolution, the House of Representatives formally recognizes the existence of South Korean POWs and civilian abductees from the Korean War who may still be alive in North Korea and want to return to their families in the South.

We call on North Korea to admit to abducting the thousands of South Korean civilians and reveal their status. The North also should allow family reunions and immediate repatriation of the abductees under the Geneva Convention.

The United States stands with the people of South Korea in remembering these abductees from the Korean War. We must not forget their plight, and we will continue working for their reunification with their families, still scarred by the lingering pain and tragedy of war.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, and I thank the gentleman from New York, Representative Rangel, for offering it.

Every year for decades, the Congress has appropriated millions of dollars for the Pentagon to go around the world and recover the remains of our fallen. Those involved in the effort know that theirs is a solemn and vital mission, one that everyone who serves in this House strongly supports. It makes one proud to be an American knowing that we will go to great lengths to leave no soldier behind.

Unfortunately, this laudable effort to recover the remains of those long deceased has not been matched by the same level of care and concern at the Dover Port Mortuary in recent years. I know the truth of this through a courageous constituent of mine, Lynn Smith of Frenchtown, New Jersey. Lynn's late husband, Sergeant First Class Scott Smith, was killed by an improvised explosive device in Iraq in 2006.

More than a year after Scott's body was returned home to her and his parents, Lynn discovered that additional remains were subsequently recovered--then incinerated, mixed with medical waste, and dumped in a landfill in King George County, Virginia. As Lynn suspected, and as we now know, that practice was performed on the unclaimed additional remains of at least 273 other servicemembers. There were a number of other incidents of desecration or mishandling of remains that took place at Dover that were subsequently exposed by three Dover employees, who took the dangerous step of becoming whistleblowers and reporting their allegations to the Office of Special Counsel. Make no mistake-- those whistleblowers are true public servants, and I thank them.

I have made it clear to Air Force officials that they must never allow this kind of outrage to happen again, and that those who retaliated against the whistleblowers should be dismissed from government service. If we can get our MIA recovery and identification process right, the same high standards must apply at Dover.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for offering this bill and I urge its swift passage.

I rise in support of this resolution.

Several of our colleagues--Sam Johnson, Howard Coble, John Conyers, and its author Charlie Rangel--bravely fought in this war and deserve our recognition tonight. Even if he hasn't had a bad day since, they deserve our recognition.

Mr. Speaker, the Korean War as we often know is called the Forgotten War, but those who fought it and our South Korean allies haven't forgotten this war. And by moving this legislation forward tonight, we're signaling that the House has not forgotten this war. And as much as anything, I believe this resolution demonstrates the shared commitment, the shared sacrifice that serves as the foundation of that U.S.-South Korea alliance.

We've all seen lots change in those six decades since our colleagues fought in that war; but with U.S. support, South Korea has transformed into a modern leading economy in the world today, but you still go north of that 38th Parallel--I've been north of that 38th Parallel--and they still live literally in darkness.

It's been more than 60 years since the start of the Korean war; and after all of that time, our Department of Defense lists more than 8,000 American servicemen as POWs who are missing in action. The number of South Koreans is estimated to be many times that because as many as 100,000 South Koreans were forcibly conscripted into the North Korean Army.

For our veterans and for their families, it is well past time for a full accounting which is what this resolution calls for.

Indeed, as this resolution states, there are still South Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees from the Korean war who are still alive in North Korea and want to be repatriated back to the South.

For the sake of those impacted, I urge passage of this resolution.