II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 690 

To expedite the provision of humanitarian assistance, including life-saving 

medical care, to the people of North Korea, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2021 

Mr. MARKEY (for himself and Mr. CARDIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To expedite the provision of humanitarian assistance, including life-saving medical care, to the people of North 

Korea, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing North 

5 Korea Humanitarian Assistance Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) Providing humanitarian assistance, includ9 ing to countries subject to sanctions imposed by the 

10 United States, is an expression of American values 


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1 that furthers United States interests around the 

2 world and is consistent with international humani3 tarian law. 

4 (2) As of February 2020, roughly 10,100,000 

5 people in North Korea are in urgent need of food as6 sistance and roughly 10,400,000 need nutrition sup7 port and improved access to basic services, including 

8 health care, water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities. 

9 (3) More than 40 percent of people in North 

10 Korea are undernourished, and 1 out of every 5 chil11 dren in the country younger than 5 years of age is 

12 stunted in growth. 

(4) More than 1 13 ⁄3 of household drinking water 

14 in North Korea is contaminated. 

15 (5) Independent experts have identified severe 

16 deficiencies in North Korea’s public health infra17 structure, trained medical personnel, ability to com18 municate important safety information, and commit19 ment to addressing those deficiencies. 

20 (6) North Korea has one of the highest burdens 

21 of tuberculosis in the world and humanitarian assist22 ance is critical for countering the spread of deadly 

23 infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, 

24 hepatitis B, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (com25 monly known as ‘‘COVID–19’’). 


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1 (7) North Korea cannot reliably maintain 

2 stocks of drugs to treat diseases such as tuberculosis 

3 and HIV/AIDS, posing the risk of interrupted treat4 ments, which can lead to treatment failures and re5 sistance to multiple therapies that make treatment 

6 significantly more difficult and costly. 

7 (8) The spread of COVID–19 in North Korea 

8 is likely having devastating consequences for the 

9 people of that country who are especially vulnerable 

10 to a pandemic because of deficiencies in public 

11 health infrastructure. The 2019 Global Health Secu12 rity Index shows North Korea is the third least pre13 pared country in the world to combat a health secu14 rity crisis. 

15 (9) While the Government of North Korea has 

16 not reported any cases of COVID–19 in the country, 

17 the true extent and impact of the novel coronavirus 

18 inside North Korea is unknown, and government of19 ficials have not historically been open or transparent 

20 about humanitarian emergencies facing the people of 

21 North Korea. 

22 (10) Responses to the COVID–19 crisis, includ23 ing border closings and quarantines, have caused 

24 economic shock and hampered international efforts 


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1 that would otherwise be providing life-saving support 

2 to the people of North Korea. 

3 (11) In its final report published on August 28, 

4 2020, the United Nations Panel of Experts on 

5 North Korea found that ‘‘there can be little doubt 

6 that United Nations sanctions have had unintended 

7 effects on the humanitarian situation and aid oper8 ations within the Democratic People’s Republic of 

9 Korea’’. 

10 (12) Barriers to humanitarian access can result 

11 from decisions made or delayed by the Government 

12 of North Korea, by the governments of other coun13 tries, including the governments of the United 

14 States and the People’s Republic of China, and by 

15 the Committee of the United Nations Security Coun16 cil established by United Nations Security Council 

17 Resolution 1718 (2006) (referred to in this Act as 

18 the ‘‘1718 Sanctions Committee’’). 

19 (13) Nongovernmental organizations that pro20 vide humanitarian assistance in North Korea must 

21 typically seek simultaneous authorizations from the 

22 Department of the Treasury, the Department of 

23 State, the Department of Commerce, the 1718 Sanc24 tions Committee, customs officials in the People’s 

25 Republic of China, and the Government of North 


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1 Korea, adding further delays to humanitarian ac2 cess. 

3 (14) The 1718 Sanctions Committee issued the 

4 document entitled ‘‘Implementation Assistance No5 tice No. 7’’ on August 6, 2018, to clarify the process 

6 for granting requests for humanitarian exemptions 

7 by the United Nations and to reaffirm that sanc8 tions are not intended to have adverse humanitarian 

9 consequences for civilians in North Korea. That 

10 guidance was updated on December 1, 2020, to help 

11 streamline permissions for COVID–19-related aid 

12 and to extend humanitarian waivers from 6 to 9 

13 months. 

14 (15) United States Government travel restric15 tions impede the access of United States employees 

16 of humanitarian organizations inside North Korea 

17 and can complicate the monitoring and evaluation 

18 procedures that nongovernmental organizations have 

19 used to ensure that aid reaches the most vulnerable 

20 populations. 

21 (16) Humanitarian exceptions in comprehensive 

22 sanctions programs, such as the exceptions under 

23 section 510.512 of the North Korea Sanctions Regu24 lations, are not effective unless the persons who pro25 vide assistance along with their financial instituVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:48 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S690.IS S690

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1 tions, suppliers, shippers, and other entities can 

2 make practical use of the exceptions. 

3 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 It is the sense of Congress that— 

5 (1) the interagency review mandated by the na6 tional security memorandum issued by President Jo7 seph R. Biden, Jr., on January 21, 2021, and enti8 tled ‘‘National Security Memorandum on United 

9 States Global Leadership to Strengthen the Inter10 national COVID–19 Response and to Advance Glob11 al Health Security and Biological Preparedness’’, of12 fers an opportunity to make appropriate adjust13 ments to United States and multilateral sanctions to 

14 ensure that such sanctions do not inadvertently 

15 hinder humanitarian access to the people of North 

16 Korea; 

17 (2) national governments and multilateral au18 thorities must take action to mitigate documented 

19 delays and ensure that sanctions imposed with re20 spect to North Korea do not hinder efforts to pro21 vide humanitarian relief, including life-saving med22 ical care to combat COVID–19, to the people of 

23 North Korea; 

24 (3) the Department of the Treasury should pro25 vide timely and meaningful responses to requests for 


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1 specific licenses given that humanitarian organiza2 tions typically have a limited time to execute 

3 projects that must be approved by multiple United 

4 States Government agencies and foreign govern5 ments; 

6 (4) because humanitarian assistance is unlikely 

7 to enable large-scale sanctions evasion and revenue 

8 generation, sanctions enforcement should focus on 

9 ongoing North Korean activities, including ship-to10 ship transfers of coal and other goods, cyberattacks, 

11 and the use of forced labor abroad, all highlighted 

12 in reports issued by the United Nations Panel of Ex13 perts on North Korea and other authoritative 

14 sources; 

15 (5) financial institutions should recognize and 

16 consider the reputational and practical costs of im17 peding legitimate efforts to deliver life-saving aid to 

18 North Korea; and 

19 (6) as of February 2021, the Department of 

20 State’s travel ban for humanitarian missions to 

21 North Korea, introduced in 2017, is inconsistent 

22 with the intent of the North Korea Sanctions and 

23 Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (22 U.S.C. 9201 

24 et seq.), which explicitly exempted work related to 


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1 the repatriation of the remains of United States vet2 erans. 

3 SEC. 4. ENHANCING EXEMPTIONS FROM UNITED STATES 

4 SANCTIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

7 Treasury, acting through the Director of the Office of 

8 Foreign Assets Control, shall take 1 or more of the fol9 lowing actions: 

10 (1) Modify the humanitarian exception under 

11 section 510.512 of the North Korea Sanctions Regu12 lations to cover, in addition to the food and medicine 

13 already exempted, goods and other items that are 

14 not subject to the Export Administration Regula15 tions and that support humanitarian projects to 

16 meet basic human needs in North Korea so that no 

17 specific license is required for such items. 

18 (2)(A) Modify the North Korea Sanctions Reg19 ulations to exempt from a requirement for a specific 

20 license a published list of nonsensitive items, in addi21 tion to the food and medicine already covered by sec22 tion 510.512 of the North Korea Sanctions Regula23 tions, used in humanitarian operations in North 

24 Korea in furtherance of the purposes set forth in 


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1 section 4 of the North Korean Human Rights Act 

2 of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 7802); 

3 (B) ensure that the list reflects the relevant 

4 recommendations included in the final report, pub5 lished on February 7, 2020, of the Panel of Experts 

6 established pursuant to United Nations Security 

7 Council Resolution 1874 (2009); and 

8 (C) review and republish the list, in consulta9 tion with the Secretary of State and the Adminis10 trator of the United States Agency for International 

11 Development, every 180 days and in response to re12 quests by nongovernmental organizations that have 

13 previously engaged in authorized humanitarian ac14 tivities in North Korea. 

15 (3) Modify the North Korea Sanctions Regula16 tions so that— 

17 (A) a specific license from the Office of 

18 Foreign Assets Control of the Department of 

19 the Treasury is not required for partnerships 

20 and partnership agreements between non21 governmental organizations and persons owned 

22 or controlled by the Government of North 

23 Korea that are necessary for nongovernmental 

24 organizations to provide otherwise authorized 


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1 services related to humanitarian activity in 

2 North Korea; and 

3 (B) a specific license is still required for 

4 any partnerships and partnership agreements 

5 with persons on the list of specially designated 

6 nationals and blocked persons maintained by 

7 the Office of Foreign Assets Control. 

8 (b) BRIEFING.—Not later than 120 days after the 

9 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

10 Treasury shall provide to the appropriate congressional 

11 committees a briefing— 

12 (1) for each action described in subsection (a), 

13 describing whether the action was taken and pro14 viding a justification for the decision to take or not 

15 take the action; and 

16 (2) detailing the benefits and risks associated 

17 with establishing a category of recognized non18 governmental organizations that would be exempt 

19 from requirements for specific licenses related to 

20 dealings with the Government of North Korea or 

21 persons on the list of specially designated nationals 

22 and blocked persons maintained by the Office of 

23 Foreign Assets Control for purposes of transactions 

24 involving goods other than food or medicine to supVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:14 Apr 07, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S690.IS S690

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1 port authorized humanitarian activities in North 

2 Korea. 

3 (c) MODIFICATION TO NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS

4 REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 

5 the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury 

6 shall modify the North Korea Sanctions Regulations so 

7 that personal computers and related peripherals that sup8 port authorized humanitarian activities by nongovern9 mental organizations are not considered to be ‘‘luxury 

10 goods’’. 

11 (d) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 120 days after the 

12 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 

13 Treasury, acting through the Director of the Office of 

14 Foreign Assets Control, shall issue plainly worded guid15 ance intended for financial institutions, shipping compa16 nies, foreign customs officials, and others involved in 

17 transactions related to humanitarian assistance that— 

18 (1) clarifies the applicability of the humani19 tarian exception under the North Korea Sanctions 

20 Regulations; and 

21 (2) describes best practices for ensuring that 

22 activities are consistent with that exception. 

23 (e) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 90 days 

24 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and every 120 

25 days thereafter, the Secretary of the Treasury, acting 


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1 through the Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Con2 trol and in consultation with the Secretary of State, shall 

3 submit to the appropriate congressional committees a re4 port that includes— 

5 (1) a list of specific licenses related to humani6 tarian assistance in North Korea issued by the Of7 fice of Foreign Assets Control during the 120-day 

8 period immediately preceding the submission of the 

9 report; 

10 (2) a list of requests for specific licenses related 

11 to humanitarian assistance in North Korea denied 

12 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control during such 

13 120-day period, including explanations for the deni14 als; 

15 (3) a list of requests for specific licenses related 

16 to humanitarian assistance in North Korea that 

17 have been pending for 30 days or more as of the 

18 date on which the report is submitted, including ex19 planations for the delays; 

20 (4) a list of requests by non-United States per21 sons for sanctions waivers related to humanitarian 

22 assistance in North Korea that have been pending 

23 for 30 days or more as of the date on which the re24 port is submitted, including explanations for the 

25 delays; and 


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1 (5) a description of recent efforts to streamline 

2 the process by which nongovernmental organizations 

3 engaged in humanitarian activity in North Korea 

4 apply for and are granted specific licenses or waiv5 ers. 

6 SEC. 5. ENHANCING MULTILATERAL SANCTIONS EXEMP7 TIONS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall di9 rect the United States Permanent Representative to the 

10 United Nations to use the voice, vote, and influence of the 

11 United States to urge the United Nations— 

12 (1) to extend the period for humanitarian ex13 emptions from the 1718 Sanctions Committee to 1 

14 year and remove the limitation on exemption appli15 cations per organization per year; 

16 (2) to apply lessons learned from expedited ap17 provals of requests for humanitarian exemptions 

18 during the COVID–19 pandemic to speed approval 

19 at the 1718 Sanctions Committee of other critical 

20 exemption requests, such as requests that would ad21 dress urgent needs identified in the annual reports 

22 of the United Nations on needs and priorities for 

23 North Korea; and 

24 (3) to modify applications for humanitarian ex25 emptions from the 1718 Sanctions Committee to be 


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1 less burdensome for nongovernmental organizations, 

2 drawing as appropriate on successes in approaches 

3 taken by other United Nations sanctions commit4 tees. 

5 (b) REPORTING.—Not later than 90 days after the 

6 date of the enactment of this Act, and every 180 days 

7 thereafter, the Secretary of State shall submit to the ap8 propriate congressional committees a report— 

9 (1) describing any requests for humanitarian 

10 exemptions to the 1718 Sanctions Committee known 

11 to have been denied in the 180 days preceding sub12 mission of the report or known to have been in proc13 ess for more than 30 days as of the date of the re14 port, and any known explanations for such denials 

15 and delays; 

16 (2) detailing any action by a foreign govern17 ment in the 180 days preceding submission of the 

18 report that has delayed or impeded humanitarian as19 sistance approved by the 1718 Sanctions Committee, 

20 including the status of obstacles to humanitarian as21 sistance posed by customs officials in the People’s 

22 Republic of China; and 

23 (3) describing efforts in the 180 days preceding 

24 submission of the report to establish or maintain an 


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1 approved banking channel for transactions related to 

2 humanitarian assistance for North Korea. 

3 SEC. 6. STREAMLINING HUMANITARIAN TRAVEL AUTHOR4 IZATIONS. 

5 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act, the Secretary of State shall provide to 

7 the appropriate congressional committees a briefing— 

8 (1) detailing the benefits and risks associated 

9 with issuing a ‘‘multi-entry special validation pass10 port’’ to individuals employed by a nongovernmental 

11 organization known to be engaged in authorized hu12 manitarian activity in North Korea, with the pur13 pose of reducing costs and delays associated with re14 peated passport applications; 

15 (2) detailing plans to expand eligibility for spe16 cial validation to travel to North Korea related to re17 patriation of United States veterans remains from 

18 the Korean War and appropriate people-to-people 

19 exchanges related to conflict reduction or family re20 unification; and 

21 (3) setting forth a strategy to otherwise expe22 dite and simplify the process to obtain a special 

23 travel permit to travel to North Korea on behalf of 

24 a humanitarian organization or to travel to North 


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1 Korea using a United States passport to deliver or 

2 oversee humanitarian assistance. 

3 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT6 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com7 mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Relations 

8 of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

9 of the House of Representatives. 

10 (2) EXPORT ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS.— 

11 The term ‘‘Export Administration Regulations’’ 

12 means the regulations set forth in subchapter C of 

13 chapter VII of title 15, Code of Federal Regulations, 

14 or successor regulations. 

15 (3) NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS REGULATIONS.— 

16 The term ‘‘North Korea Sanctions Regulations’’ 

17 means the regulations set forth in part 510 of title 

18 31, Code of Federal Regulations, or successor regu19 lations. 

Æ 


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