North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2023

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3012, the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act.

I start by thanking Representatives Kim and Bera for their leadership on this bill. Initially passed in 2004, the North Korean Human Rights Act was landmark legislation that promoted accountability for human rights violations in North Korea. We are here today because the underlying tenets of this bill are as necessary today as they were 20 years ago.

Since rising to power in 2011, Kim Jung Un has doubled down on the brutal, authoritarian rule of his father and grandfather. His government has committed untold human rights violations, including arbitrary and extrajudicial killings, mass detention, forced labor, and torture.

Under the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pyongyang used lockdowns to intensify its repression, including through shoot-to-kill orders on its borders and draconian policies that have driven segments of the North Korean population into famine.

Today, North Korea remains one of the most, if not the most, repressive countries in the world. It is critical that we reauthorize the North Korean Human Rights Act today, and I urge the Senate to pass this bill immediately so that President Biden can sign it into law this year. It is essential that we reauthorize the bill now to make the United States' commitment on this issue clear and irreversible.

We must not ignore the horrific human catastrophe taking place in North Korea. It is disappointing that

the Trump administration did not appoint a Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues, which the North Korean Human Rights Act mandates. Congress must ensure that does not happen again.

This bill will enable thorough legislative oversight of the administration's North Korea policy, including by requiring the administration to answer to Congress should it fail to appoint a Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues in an expedient fashion.

H.R. 3012 would also provide the incoming administration with the tools necessary to elevate the cause of human rights in North Korea while extending reporting requirements that will allow Congress to ensure that the United States does not ignore Pyongyang's brutal treatment of its own citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for the purpose of closing.

We must be just as committed today to supporting the human rights of North Koreans as we were in 2004, which is why I support this bipartisan reauthorization of the North Korean Human Rights Act through 2028.

While much of U.S. policy toward North Korea is focused on its nuclear and missile programs, we cannot ignore the gross human rights abuses within the country. We can and must address both.

I thank Representatives Kim and Bera for shining a light on the struggle of the North Korean people. I hope my colleagues will join me and support this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3012) to reauthorize the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this measure.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Kim Jong Un regime continues to oppress the North Korean people through torture, forced labor, imprisonment, and starvation to continue expanding North Korea's nuclear weapons program. The regime also severely represses the security of the United States and the world by advancing its missile and nuclear weapons programs.

Recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests and an alarming increase in the number of nuclear warheads in North Korea's arsenal are clear demonstrations of its growing threat to global peace and stability.

North Korea has abducted Japanese and South Korean citizens and has caused the death of U.S. citizens while in North Korean custody. These acts of state-sponsored kidnapping and unlawful detention have caused immense suffering to the victims and their families. The regime's blatant disregard for human life and international law is a violation of basic human rights and an affront to global justice.

The North Korean Human Rights Act ensures that the Kim regime's human rights abuses do not go unchecked and reinforces the United States' commitment to promoting human rights in North Korea. By shining a spotlight on these atrocities, the Act seeks to hold the regime responsible for its abuses and to give hope to the North Korean people who continue to endure unimaginable oppression.

This bill extends critical efforts to break the regime's information control over the North Korean people, to protect North Korean defectors and refugees, especially from forced repatriation by China. It also ensures that the regime does not have opportunities to divert international assistance for military purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim), the chair of the Subcommittee on the Indo- Pacific.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

In closing, I thank Representatives Kim and Bera of California for working together on this important legislation that reinforces the United States' commitment to promoting human rights in North Korea.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this measure, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Moylan for yielding and for his leadership as well as my good friend Representative Manning for moving this bill forward.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 3012, the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act.

This bill updates the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 that was enacted to provide humanitarian aid to North Korean refugees, allow for information access for the North Korean people, and appoint a U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues.

H.R. 3012 reauthorizes, streamlines, and strengthens oversight of these programs through 2028 and calls for Korean-American families to be reunited with their immediate relatives in North Korea.

We need someone at the State Department dedicated entirely to North Korean human rights issues, especially as Kim Jong Un's brutality against his own people grows. Why?

Because North Korean women and children face the most inhumane treatment in the world, child labor is institutionalized in North Korea, and women are forced into sex trafficking organized by government officials and human traffickers; because an estimated 100,000 North Koreans are subject to forced labor in factories with inhumane conditions in the People's Republic of China; and because torture, forced disappearances, imprisonment, forced sterilization, and religious persecution are tools regularly used to consolidate the North Korean regime's power.

From January 2017 to December 2022, the special envoy position was vacant; that is nearly 6 years. If the position is ever vacant again for more than 180 days, my bill requires the State Department to report on ongoing efforts to fill the position.

The authorization for the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 lapsed in 2022. We must get this legislation signed into law this Congress. We cannot ignore the threat posed by North Korea, and holding the North Korean regime accountable without supporting human rights is a nonstarter.

Failing to reauthorize this landmark human rights initiative sends a signal to Kim Jong Un that the United States will allow human rights abuses in North Korea and around the world to fall on deaf ears.

I thank Representative Ami Bera for co-leading this bill with me, and I thank our chairman of the full committee and his staff for their leadership and commitment to human rights and freedoms for the North Korean people.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3012.

Madam Speaker, I was unable to cast my vote on H.R. 3012, the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act, as amended, and H.R. 8368, the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts Authorization Act, as amended. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 474 and YEA on Roll Call No. 475.

Mr. Speaker, I regret that I could not be present for the vote on H.R. 3012--North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 474.