I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1464 

To develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 8, 2011 

Mr. ROYCE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Adoption Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 It is the sense of Congress that— 

8 (1) thousands of North Korean children do not 

9 have families and are threatened with starvation and 


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1 disease if they remain in North Korea or as stateless 

2 refugees in surrounding countries; 

3 (2) thousands of United States citizens would 

4 welcome the opportunity to adopt North Korean or5 phans living outside North Korea as de jure or de 

6 facto stateless refugees; and 

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

8 Homeland Security should make every effort to fa9 cilitate the immediate care, family reunification, and, 

10 if necessary and appropriate, the adoption of any eli11 gible North Korean children living outside North 

12 Korea as de jure or de facto stateless refugees. 

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

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

16 ‘‘foreign-sending country’’— 

17 (A) means— 

18 (i) the country of the orphan’s citizen19 ship; or 

20 (ii) if the orphan is not permanently 

21 residing in the country of citizenship, the 

22 country of the orphan’s habitual residence; 

23 and 

24 (B) excludes any country to which the or25 phan— 


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1 (i) travels temporarily; or 

2 (ii) travels as a prelude to, or in con3 junction with, his or her adoption or immi4 gration to the United States. 

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

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

7 Convention on Protection of Children and Coopera8 tion in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done at 

9 The Hague on May 29, 1993. 

10 (3) NON-HAGUE COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘non11 Hague country’’ means a country that is not a sig12 natory of the Convention on Protection of Children 

13 and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adop14 tion, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993. 

15 SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ADOPTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHIL16 DREN BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con18 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall 

19 develop a comprehensive strategy for facilitating the adop20 tion of North Korean children by United States citizens. 

21 (b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the strategy 

22 under this section, the Secretary shall— 

23 (1) consider the challenges that United States 

24 citizens would encounter in attempting to adopt chil25 dren from North Korea who are currently living in 


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1 Hague countries and non-Hague countries regard2 less of their legal status in such countries; 

3 (2) propose solutions to dealing with the situa4 tion in which a North Korean refugee child does not 

5 have access to a competent authority in the foreign6 sending country; 

7 (3) propose solutions to dealing with North Ko8 rean refugee children who are not considered habit9 ual residents of the countries in which they are lo10 cated; 

11 (4) evaluate alternative mechanisms for foreign12 sending countries to prove that North Korean ref13 ugee children are orphans when documentation, such 

14 as birth certificates, death certificates of birth par15 ents, and orphanage documentation, is missing or 

16 destroyed; 

17 (5) provide suggestions for working with South 

18 Korea to establish pilot programs that identify, pro19 vide for the immediate care of, assist in the family 

20 reunification of, and assist in the international adop21 tion of, orphaned North Korean children living with22 in South Korea; 

23 (6) provide suggestions for working with inter24 national adoption agencies and aid organizations in 

25 Asia to identify and establish pilot programs for the 


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1 identification, immediate care, family reunification, 

2 and international adoption of North Korean orphans 

3 living outside North Korea as de jure or de facto 

4 stateless refugees; 

5 (7) identify other nations in which large num6 bers of stateless, orphaned children are living who 

7 might be helped by international adoption; and 

8 (8) propose solutions for assisting orphaned 

9 children with Chinese fathers and North Korean 

10 mothers who are living in China and have no access 

11 to Chinese or North Korean resources. 

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

13 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec14 retary of State shall submit a written report to Congress 

15 that contains the details of the strategy developed under 

16 this section. 

Æ 


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