II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2688 

To require consultations on reuniting Korean Americans with family members 

in North Korea. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 10, 2021 

Ms. HIRONO (for herself, Mr. SULLIVAN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, and Ms. CORTEZ

MASTO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require consultations on reuniting Korean Americans with 

family members in North Korea. 

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 ‘‘Korean War Divided 

5 Families Reunification Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. CONSULTATIONS ON REUNITING KOREAN AMERI7 CANS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS IN NORTH 

8 KOREA. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find10 ings: 


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1 (1) The division of the Korean Peninsula into 

2 South Korea and North Korea separated thousands 

3 of Koreans from family members. 

4 (2) Since the signing of the Agreement Con5 cerning a Military Armistice in Korea, signed at 

6 Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly referred to as 

7 the ‘‘Korean War Armistice Agreement’’), there has 

8 been little to no contact between Korean Americans 

9 and family members who remain in North Korea. 

10 (3) North Korea and South Korea first agreed 

11 to reunions of divided families in 1985 and have 

12 since held 21 face-to-face reunions and multiple 

13 video link reunions. 

14 (4) Those reunions have subsequently given ap15 proximately 24,500 Koreans the opportunity to 

16 briefly reunite with loved ones. 

17 (5) The most recent family reunions between 

18 North Korea and South Korea took place in August 

19 2018 and did not include any Korean Americans. 

20 (6) The United States and North Korea do not 

21 maintain diplomatic relations and certain limitations 

22 exist on Korean Americans participating in face-to23 face reunions. 


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1 (7) According to the most recent census, more 

2 than 1,700,000 people living in the United States 

3 are of Korean descent. 

4 (8) The number of first generation Korean and 

5 Korean American family members divided from fam6 ily members in North Korea is rapidly diminishing 

7 given the advanced age of those family members. 

8 More than 3,000 elderly South Koreans die each 

9 year without having been reunited with their family 

10 members. 

11 (9) Many Korean Americans with family mem12 bers in North Korea have not seen or communicated 

13 with those family members in more than 60 years. 

14 (10) The inclusion of Korean American families 

15 in the reunion process, with the support of inter16 national organizations with expertise in family trac17 ing, would constitute a positive humanitarian ges18 ture by the Government of North Korea. 

19 (11) Section 1265 of the National Defense Au20 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 

21 110–181; 122 Stat. 407) required the President to 

22 submit to Congress a report on ‘‘efforts, if any, of 

23 the United States Government to facilitate family re24 unions between United States citizens and their rel25 atives in North Korea’’. 


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1 (12) The position of Special Envoy on North 

2 Korean Human Rights Issues has been vacant since 

3 January 2017, although the President is required to 

4 appoint a Senate-confirmed Special Envoy to fill this 

5 position in accordance with section 107 of the North 

6 Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 

7 7817). 

8 (13) In the report of the Committee on Appro9 priations of the House of Representatives accom10 panying H.R. 3081, 111th Congress (House Report 

11 111–187), the Committee urged ‘‘the Special Rep12 resentative on North Korea Policy, as the senior of13 ficial handling North Korea issues, to prioritize the 

14 issues involving Korean divided families and to, if 

15 necessary, appoint a coordinator for such families’’. 

16 (14) In the report of the Committee on Appro17 priations of the House of Representatives accom18 panying H.R. 133, 116th Congress (House Report 

19 116–444), the Committee urged ‘‘the Office of 

20 North Korean Human Rights, in consultation with 

21 Korean American community organizations, to iden22 tify Korean Americans who wish to be reunited with 

23 their family in North Korea in anticipation of future 

24 reunions’’. 

25 (b) CONSULTATIONS.— 


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1 (1) CONSULTATIONS WITH SOUTH KOREA.— 

2 The Secretary of State, or a designee of the Sec3 retary, should consult with officials of South Korea, 

4 as appropriate, on potential opportunities to reunite 

5 Korean American families with family members in 

6 North Korea from which such Korean American 

7 families were divided after the signing of the Korean 

8 War Armistice Agreement, including potential oppor9 tunities for video reunions for Korean Americans 

10 with such family members. 

11 (2) CONSULTATIONS WITH KOREAN AMERI12 CANS.—The Special Envoy on North Korean Human 

13 Rights Issues of the Department of State should 

14 regularly consult with representatives of Korean 

15 Americans who have family members in North 

16 Korea with respect to efforts to reunite families di17 vided after the signing of the Korean War Armistice 

18 Agreement, including potential opportunities for 

19 video reunions for Korean Americans with such fam20 ily members. 

21 (3) NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF AP22 PROPRIATIONS.—No additional amounts are author23 ized to be appropriated to the Department of State 

24 to carry out consultations under this subsection. 


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1 (c) ADDITIONAL MATTER IN REPORT.—The Sec2 retary of State, acting through the Special Envoy on 

3 North Korean Human Rights Issues, shall include in each 

4 report required under section 107(d) of the North Korean 

5 Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 7817(d)), a de6 scription of the consultations described in subsection (b) 

7 conducted during the year preceding the submission of 

8 each report required under such section 107(d). 

Æ 


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