IV 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 1080 

Expressing the sense of Congress that coordinated action must be taken 

by the United States Government and partner countries to address the 

humanitarian and human rights crises facing North Koreans in the 

People’s Republic of China, including forced labor, arbitrary detention, 

human trafficking, and the forcible repatriation from China. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 13, 2024 

Mrs. STEEL (for herself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mrs. 

KIM of California, and Mr. D’ESPOSITO) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of Congress that coordinated action 

must be taken by the United States Government and 

partner countries to address the humanitarian and 

human rights crises facing North Koreans in the People’s 

Republic of China, including forced labor, arbitrary detention, human trafficking, and the forcible repatriation 

from China. 

Whereas North Korean escapees and asylum seekers in 

China, the vast majority of whom are women, are again 

being forcibly returned to the Democratic People’s ReVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Mar 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1080.IH HR1080

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
2 

•HRES 1080 IH 

public of Korea (North Korea) with the opening up of the 

Sino-North Korean border in 2023; 

Whereas the Governments of China and North Korea are now 

aggressively seeking to locate and detain North Koreans 

who are in China and to forcibly return them to North 

Korea, including by offering bounties for information on 

North Koreans living in China; 

Whereas, according to the 18 United Nations Special Experts 

on human rights in an October 2023 statement urging 

the People’s Republic of China to honor its obligations 

under international law, ‘‘there are long-standing and 

credible reports to believe that North Korea escapees 

forced returned to [North Korea] would be subjected to 

torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment and other serious human rights violations.’’; 

Whereas the 2014 Commission on Inquiry on Human Rights 

North Korea and the United Nations High Commissioner 

of Human Rights condemned the long-standing, systematic and gross violations of human rights occurring in 

North Korea, including those that may amount to crimes 

against humanity; 

Whereas, according to the 2014 United Nations Commission 

of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea report, the 

Government of North Korea holds up to 120,000 political 

prisoners in camps managed by its State Security Agency 

through the use of forced labor, beatings, torture, and 

executions. Many prisoners also die from disease, starvation, and exposure; 

Whereas the Government of North Korea imposes punishments, including execution, for crimes such as attempted 

defection, slander of the Korean Workers Party, listening 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
3 

•HRES 1080 IH 

to foreign broadcasts, possessing printed matter that is 

considered reactionary by the Korean Workers Party, and 

holding prohibited religious beliefs; 

Whereas the combination of political, social, and religious 

persecution and acute food insecurity in North Korea 

cause many North Koreans to flee to China, a trend that 

has occurred for over 30 years now; 

Whereas an estimated 80 percent of North Korean asylum 

seekers are women and girls who are particularly vulnerable to trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, 

forced labor, or forced marriages and detention in China 

and if forcibly returned to North Korea they may face 

forced abortions, rape, and other forms of violence in detention; 

Whereas, according to the State Department’s latest Trafficking in Persons Report, approximately 30,000 children 

in China who were born to North Korean mothers and 

Chinese fathers are unregistered, making them stateless 

and ineligible for medical care, schooling, and other government support in the People’s Republic of China; 

Whereas in order to generate income for the Government, including its illicit nuclear weapons program, North Koreans are sent abroad, most often to China and Russia, to 

work under conditions that reportedly amount to forced 

labor, including in seafood process factories in Liaoning 

Province of China; 

Whereas seafood processed by North Koreans in Liaoning 

Province of China enter the United States market, including baby clams, squid, and haddock according to reports published by the Outlaw Ocean Project; 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
4 

•HRES 1080 IH 

Whereas China and Russia violate with impunity United Nations Security Council resolution 2397 (para. 8) which 

prohibits countries from employing North Korean workers after December 2019; 

Whereas any good made by North Korean labor, wholly or in 

part, is prohibited from entry into the United States 

market by section 321 of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (P.L. 115–44); 

Whereas Members of Congress, on a bipartisan basis, have 

urged the Department of Homeland Security to take action to stop seafood imports from China to enter the 

United States market, until importers show that no 

North Korean or Uyghur labor was used in processing; 

Whereas, according to the United Nations Special 

Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North 

Korea in 2023, as many as 2,000 North Korean asylum 

seekers and refugees were arrested and detained in China 

during the COVID–19 lockdown; 

Whereas at a July 2023 hearing at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China titled ‘‘North Korean Refugees 

and the Imminent Danger of Forced Repatriation from 

China,’’ satellite images were shown detailing expanded 

detention facilities for North Koreans in China; 

Whereas United Nations Third Committee adopted a resolution (A/C.3.78/L.39) in November 2023, reminded UN 

member states, without naming the People’s Republic of 

China, to comply with its obligations to protect North 

Korean refugees under the United Nations Convention 

Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 (1951 United 

Nations Refugee Convention), and its Protocol Relating 

to the Status of Refugees of 1967 (1967 United Nations 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
5 

•HRES 1080 IH 

Refugee Protocol), which defines a refugee as a person 

who, ‘‘owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for 

reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a 

particular social group or political opinion, is outside the 

country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such 

fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that 

country’’; 

Whereas, despite the obligations of the People’s Republic of 

China, as a state party to the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention and the 1967 United Nations Refugee 

Protocol, the Government routinely classifies North Koreans in China as ‘‘economic migrants’’ and forcibly returns them to North Korea without regard to the reason 

they escaped North Korea or the serious threat of persecution they face upon their return; 

Whereas the United Nations Resolution of November 2023 

‘‘strongly urge(d)’’ United Nations member states to respect the principle of nonrefoulment, or forced deportations, given the ‘‘internment, torture, [and] other cruel 

and degrading treatment or punishment . . . including 

the death penalty,’’ faced by North Koreans forcibly returned from the People’s Republic of China; 

Whereas the People’s Republic of China is a signatory to the 

United Nations Convention Against Torture, which obligates United Nations member states to protect individuals, regardless of their migratory status, if there is a 

risk of torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or 

punishment, including the death penalty or enforced disappearances upon return; 

Whereas the Government of the People’s Republic of China 

continues to deny access to its border regions with North 

Korea to the United Nations High Commission for RefuVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:45 Mar 14, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR1080.IH HR1080

kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
6 

•HRES 1080 IH 

gees (UNHCR) and to deny the UNHCR staff in the 

PRC to determine the status of asylum or refugee claims, 

as the People’s Republic of China is obligated to do by 

its international legal obligations: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) strongly encourages the President, the Sec3 retary of State, and all other relevant Cabinet Offi4 cers to raise with the officials of the Government of 

5 the People’s Republic of China, in both bilateral and 

6 relevant multilateral settings, the interests of the 

7 United States in protecting North Koreans seeking 

8 asylum or those trafficked in the People’s Republic 

9 of China, including through— 

10 (A) encouraging fulfilling of international 

11 obligations to protect refugees and address 

12 human trafficking within the People’s Republic 

13 of China under the 1951 United Nations Ref14 ugee Convention and the 1967 Refugee Pro15 tocol; Article 3 of the Convention Against Tor16 ture, and the Palermo Protocol, all which the 

17 which the Government of the People’s Republic 

18 of China has acceded to and ratified; 

19 (B) using the voice, vote, and influence at 

20 the United Nations to ensure that the UNHCR 

21 is able to protect North Korea asylum seekers 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
7 

•HRES 1080 IH 

1 and provide them with a reasonable opportunity 

2 to request asylum and be processed in-country; 

3 (C) ensuring that the Government of the 

4 People’s Republic of China understands the in5 terests of the United States and allied nations 

6 in ending North Korean labor in the People’s 

7 Republic of China as such labor is a source of 

8 foreign capital for the North Korean Govern9 ment which is diverted to its nuclear program; 

10 (D) using the voice, vote, and influence at 

11 the United Nations to ensure that the People’s 

12 Republic of China and other United Nations 

13 member states fulfill United Nations Resolution 

14 2397 (para. 8) prohibiting the use of North Ko15 rean labor; and 

16 (E) ensuring that the Government of the 

17 People’s Republic of China remains fully aware 

18 that goods produced with the labor of North 

19 Koreans in China are presumptively prohibited 

20 entry into the United States market under 

21 Countering America’s Adversaries Through 

22 Sanctions Act (P.L. 115–44); 

23 (2) encourages the Secretary of State to— 

24 (A) coordinate diplomatic actions with the 

25 Governments of South Korea, Japan, and other 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
8 

•HRES 1080 IH 

1 concerned Governments to end the forced de2 portations and forced labor of North Koreans 

3 living in China; 

4 (B) build coalitions with allies and part5 ners at the United Nations to— 

6 (i) fully implement the recommenda7 tions of the United Nation’s Commission 

8 of Inquiry on Human Rights in North 

9 Korea; 

10 (ii) continue requests for briefings at 

11 the United Nations Security Council by the 

12 High Commissioner for Human Rights and 

13 the Special Rapporteur on the Situation in 

14 North Korea; 

15 (iii) schedule regular Arria-formula 

16 meetings at the United Nations Security 

17 Council on the situation of North Koreans 

18 in China; 

19 (iv) coordinate joint actions and reso20 lutions on the issue of the forced repatri21 ation or forcible return of North Koreans 

22 from China and other human rights abuses 

23 experienced in China with like-minded al24 lies at the United Nations Human Rights 

25 Council; and 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
9 

•HRES 1080 IH 

1 (v) press for UNHCR access to North 

2 Koreans seeking asylum in China; 

3 (C) consider issuing an atrocity determina4 tion for the Government of the People’s Repub5 lic of China for its treatment of North Korean 

6 asylum-seekers, laborers, women and girls in 

7 China and the fact that North Koreans forcibly 

8 repatriated or returned will face arbitrary de9 tention, torture, hard labor, or even execution; 

10 (D) use existing sanctions authorities 

11 found in the Global Magnitsky Human Rights 

12 Accountability Act and the Trafficking Victims 

13 Protection Act of 2000 to hold accountable offi14 cials from the Government of the People’s Re15 public of China, or other United Nations mem16 ber states, who knowingly engage in the forcible 

17 deportation of North Koreans and for failing to 

18 address the human trafficking of North Kore19 ans, including Chinese Communist Party offi20 cials in charge of provinces near the North Ko21 rean border; and 

22 (E) redesignate the Government of the 

23 People’s Republic of China as a ‘‘Tier 3’’ coun24 try for its failure to address trafficking in per25 sons in China and use the tools available in the 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
10 

•HRES 1080 IH 

1 Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to 

2 provide incentives for the government to fulfill 

3 its obligations under international human rights 

4 and refugee law; 

5 (3) encourages the Secretary of the Department 

6 of Homeland Security, in coordination with the Sec7 retary of the Department of Labor, to address the 

8 issue of forced labor of North Korean workers in the 

9 People’s Republic of China including through— 

10 (A) enforcing the Countering America’s 

11 Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (P.L. 115– 

12 44) provision that presumptively prohibits entry 

13 into the United States market of any goods pro14 duced with the labor of North Koreans; 

15 (B) reporting to Congress on any imports 

16 to the United States of goods produced by 

17 North Koreans working in the People’s Repub18 lic of China; 

19 (C) issuing a Withhold Release Order for 

20 Liaoning Province of the People’s Republic of 

21 China where the seafood industry using North 

22 Korean labor is based; 

23 (D) issuing a Withhold Release Order for 

24 any factory where North Korean labor is em25 ployed; and 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB
11 

•HRES 1080 IH 

1 (E) issuing a joint advisory with other rel2 evant Cabinet-level agencies on imported sea3 food processed in China to ensure that all Fed4 eral agencies end the sourcing of seafood proc5 essed by forced labor or caught by fleets of the 

6 People’s Republic of China engaged in illegal, 

7 unregulated, and unreported fishing. 

Æ 


kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB