IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. RES. 976 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that complete, verifiable, 

and irreversible human rights improvements in the Democratic People’s 

Republic of North Korea should be part of a United States strategy 

for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open Indo-Pacific 

region. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 28, 2018 

Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mrs. HARTZLER, and Mr. PITTENGER) 

submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 

complete, verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements in the Democratic People’s Republic of North 

Korea should be part of a United States strategy for 

a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open 

Indo-Pacific region. 

Whereas the threat from nuclear proliferation from the 

Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is 

a clear and present danger to the United States and regional allies; 

Whereas the Administration’s efforts to engage in diplomatic 

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mains of Americans killed during the Korean War, and 

to seek the complete, irreversible and verifiable 

denuclearization of the Korean peninsula are welcome 

and commendable achievements; 

Whereas the Government of North Korea continues to engage 

in systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, torture, forced abortion, human trafficking, particularly severe religious freedom abuses, public execution of political prisoners, the 

death of United States citizen Otto Warmbier and political purges of relatives and family members, including 

through the use of chemical weapons; 

Whereas these violations, including the creation of large refugee flows and famines, the abduction of Japanese, 

South Korean, and United States citizens, and the trafficking of North Korean citizens, remain a distinct threat 

to regional stability, whether or not North Korea possesses nuclear weapons; 

Whereas the human trafficking of North Korean citizens has 

provided the Government of North Korea with foreign 

currency which supports its efforts to avoid international 

sanctions and supports its nuclear ambitions; 

Whereas there remain an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners in North Korea, detained in a system of political prison labor camps; 

Whereas in 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry 

on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of 

Korea found that the violations perpetrated against the 

people of North Korea were established at the highest 

level of the Government of North Korea, and such gross 


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•HRES 976 IH 

human rights violations amount to crimes against humanity in many instances; 

Whereas the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on 

Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of 

Korea also found that North Korean nationals forcibly 

repatriated by the Government of the People’s Republic 

of China are subject to torture, prolonged arbitrary detention and, in some cases, sexual violence, including 

invasive body searches; 

Whereas North Korean nationals found to have been in contact with officials or nationals from the Republic of 

Korea (South Korea) or with Christian churches or humanitarian aid workers may be forcibly ‘‘disappeared’’ 

into prison labor camps, imprisoned in ordinary prisons, 

or even summarily executed; 

Whereas the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on 

Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of 

Korea urged the Chinese Government to caution relevant 

officials that repatriation of North Korean nationals 

could amount to the aiding and abetting of crimes 

against humanity where repatriations and information exchanges lead to the facilitation or commission of crimes 

against humanity in North Korea; 

Whereas China arrests, detains, or imprisons those individuals who try to assist North Korean refugees inside China’s borders; and 

Whereas, notwithstanding high-level advocacy by the United 

States, South Korea, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, China has forcibly repatriated tens of thousands of North Koreans: 

Now, therefore, be it 


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1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

2 (1) requests that the President— 

3 (A) make complete, verifiable, and irrevers4 ible human rights improvements in the Demo5 cratic People’s Republic of Korea (North 

6 Korea) part of United States negotiating strat7 egy with North Korea, the People’s Republic of 

8 China, and regional allies; 

9 (B) even in the event of concluding an 

10 agreement of a complete, verifiable and irre11 versible denuclearization of the Korean penin12 sula, condition economic or other assistance and 

13 the lifting of individual sanctions currently im14 posed on North Korean officials on complete, 

15 verifiable, and irreversible human rights im16 provements in North Korea; 

17 (C) seek the dismantling of North Korea’s 

18 political prison labor camps and the release of 

19 all political and religious prisoners, estimated at 

20 between 80,000 to 120,000; 

21 (D) as part of a comprehensive, ongoing 

22 negotiating strategy with North Korea, consult 

23 international experts about the strategic and 

24 political relevance of the cult of personality sur25 rounding the Kim family (sometimes referred to 


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1 as ‘‘Juche’’), including by seeking options for 

2 addressing this quasi-religious ideology in talks 

3 with North Korea; 

4 (E) seek the Chinese Government’s compli5 ance with its international obligations to protect 

6 and resettle North Korean refugees and to halt 

7 the trafficking of persons; and 

8 (F) consider placing any North Korean 

9 and Chinese officials complicit in the abuses de10 scribed in the preamble of this resolution on the 

11 list of specially designated nationals and 

12 blocked persons maintained by the Office of 

13 Foreign Assets Control of the Department of 

14 the Treasury under existing sanctions authori15 ties; 

16 (2) requests that the Secretary of State submit 

17 to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House 

18 of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 

19 Relations of the Senate, not later than 90 days after 

20 the date of the adoption of this resolution, a report, 

21 that should include— 

22 (A) a strategy to realize the complete, 

23 verifiable, and irreversible human rights im24 provements in the Democratic People’s Republic 

25 of Korea (North Korea) and the protection of 


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1 North Korean asylum seekers in China or else2 where and including efforts to increase inter3 national coordination and cooperation, whether 

4 unilaterally, bilaterally, or multilaterally to ad5 dress human rights in North Korea; 

6 (B) information about the system of prison 

7 labor camps in North Korea and options avail8 able for United States diplomacy to perma9 nently close these camps and seek the release of 

10 an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political and 

11 religious prisoners; 

12 (C) information and an assessment of ef13 forts to provide uncensored news and other in14 formation into North Korea and whether addi15 tional resources are needed to expand such ef16 forts; 

17 (D) information on efforts to stop the Gov18 ernment of North Korea and other countries 

19 from benefitting from human trafficking of 

20 North Korean citizens; 

21 (E) information about what sanctions are 

22 being employed as part of the effort to achieve 

23 complete, verifiable, and irreversible human 

24 rights improvements, including sanctions that 

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1 gious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et 

2 seq.), the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 

3 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), and the Global 

4 Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act 

5 (22 U.S.C. 2656 note); 

6 (F) information about the termination of 

7 any sanction with respect to the activities of the 

8 Government of the Democratic People’s Repub9 lic of Korea on officials and entities complicit in 

10 gross violations of internationally recognized 

11 human rights; 

12 (G) information on efforts to protect North 

13 Korean refugees in China and elsewhere and 

14 options for United States policy; 

15 (H) information on efforts to address indi16 viduals separated or forcibly removed from their 

17 families through displacement during the Ko18 rean War, enforced disappearances and abduc19 tion; 

20 (I) information on whether non-sanctioned 

21 medical assistance is reaching North Korea or 

22 is being blocked in China or elsewhere and 

23 whether the Administration needs any addi24 tional congressional authority if such humani25 tarian assistance is blocked; 


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1 (J) information on how the provisions of 

2 the North Korean Human Rights Act and the 

3 North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhance4 ment Act of 2016 (Public Law 114–122; 22 

5 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.), are being implemented 

6 and integrated into the overall strategy; and 

7 (K) information on efforts to repatriate the 

8 remains of Americans killed in action during 

9 the Korean War; 

10 (3) requests that the Administration consider 

11 using the voice and vote of the United States to es12 tablish an ad hoc or special international criminal 

13 tribunal, or a regional or international hybrid court, 

14 to investigate and remedy crimes against humanity 

15 and other atrocity crimes, as appropriate, in North 

16 Korea or those crimes targeting North Korean na17 tionals in other countries such as China; 

18 (4) requests that the Administration consider 

19 section 104(a)(5) of the North Korea Sanctions and 

20 Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (Public Law 114– 

21 122; 22 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.), which requires the 

22 President to impose mandatory penalties under 

23 United States law on any person that ‘‘knowingly 

24 engages in, is responsible for, or facilitates serious 

25 human rights abuses by the Government of North 


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1 Korea’’, as applying to any individual or entity that 

2 is complicit in the trafficking of North Korean refu3 gees or the forced repatriation of North Korean ref4 ugees; and 

5 (5) requests that the Secretary of State, the 

6 Secretary of Homeland Security, the United States 

7 Ambassador to the United Nations, and the heads of 

8 other relevant United States agencies, assist in find9 ing both temporary and durable solutions for North 

10 Korean asylum seekers in China or elsewhere. 

Æ 


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