IIB 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1464 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

AN ACT 

To develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North Korean Refugee 

3 Adoption Act of 2012’’. 

4 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 It is the sense of Congress that— 

6 (1) thousands of North Korean children do not 

7 have families and are threatened with starvation and 

8 disease if they remain in North Korea or as stateless 

9 refugees in surrounding countries; 

10 (2) thousands of United States citizens would 

11 welcome the opportunity to adopt North Korean or12 phans living outside North Korea as de jure or de 

13 facto stateless refugees; and 

14 (3) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of 

15 Homeland Security should make every effort to fa16 cilitate the immediate care, family reunification, and, 

17 if necessary and appropriate, the adoption of any eli18 gible North Korean children living outside North 

19 Korea as de jure or de facto stateless refugees. 

20 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

21 In this Act: 

22 (1) FOREIGN-SENDING COUNTRY.—The term 

23 ‘‘foreign-sending country’’— 

24 (A) means— 

25 (i) the country of the orphan’s citizen26 ship; or 


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1 (ii) if the orphan is not permanently 

2 residing in the country of citizenship, the 

3 country of the orphan’s habitual residence; 

4 and 

5 (B) excludes any country to which the or6 phan— 

7 (i) travels temporarily; or 

8 (ii) travels as a prelude to, or in con9 junction with, his or her adoption or immi10 gration to the United States. 

11 (2) HAGUE COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘Hague 

12 country’’ means a country that is a signatory of the 

13 Convention on Protection of Children and Coopera14 tion in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done at 

15 The Hague on May 29, 1993. 

16 (3) NON-HAGUE COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘non17 Hague country’’ means a country that is not a sig18 natory of the Convention on Protection of Children 

19 and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adop20 tion, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993. 

21 SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ADOPTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHIL22 DREN BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con24 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall 


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1 develop a comprehensive strategy for facilitating the adop2 tion of North Korean children by United States citizens. 

3 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the strategy 

4 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

5 (1) consider the challenges that United States 

6 citizens would encounter in attempting to adopt chil7 dren from North Korea who are currently living in 

8 Hague countries and non-Hague countries regard9 less of their legal status in such countries; 

10 (2) propose solutions to dealing with the situa11 tion in which a North Korean refugee child does not 

12 have access to a competent authority in the foreign13 sending country; 

14 (3) propose solutions to dealing with North Ko15 rean refugee children who are not considered habit16 ual residents of the countries in which they are lo17 cated; 

18 (4) evaluate alternative mechanisms for foreign19 sending countries to prove that North Korean ref20 ugee children are orphans when documentation, such 

21 as birth certificates, death certificates of birth par22 ents, and orphanage documentation, is missing or 

23 destroyed; 

24 (5) provide suggestions for working with South 

25 Korea to establish pilot programs that identify, proVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:18 Sep 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1464.RFS H1464

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1 vide for the immediate care of, assist in the family 

2 reunification of, and assist in the international adop3 tion of, orphaned North Korean children living with4 in South Korea; 

5 (6) provide suggestions for working with inter6 national adoption agencies and aid organizations in 

7 Asia to identify and establish pilot programs for the 

8 identification, immediate care, family reunification, 

9 and international adoption of North Korean orphans 

10 living outside North Korea as de jure or de facto 

11 stateless refugees; 

12 (7) identify other nations in which large num13 bers of stateless, orphaned children are living who 

14 might be helped by international adoption; and 

15 (8) propose solutions for assisting orphaned 

16 children with Chinese fathers and North Korean 

17 mothers who are living in China and have no access 

18 to Chinese or North Korean resources. 

19 (c) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 180 

20 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec21 retary of State shall submit a written report to Congress 


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1 that contains the details of the strategy developed under 

2 this section. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 11, 

2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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