I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1771 

To require consultations on reuniting Korean Americans with family members 

in North Korea. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2019 

Ms. MENG (for herself, Mr. SHERMAN, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. WOODALL, 

Ms. BASS, and Ms. GABBARD) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

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 ‘‘Divided Families Re5 unification Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CONSULTATIONS ON REUNITING KOREAN AMERI2 CANS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS IN NORTH 

3 KOREA. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) The division of the Korean Peninsula into 

7 South Korea and North Korea separated thousands 

8 of Koreans from family members. 

9 (2) Since the signing of the Agreement Con10 cerning a Military Armistice in Korea, signed at 

11 Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly referred to as 

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

13 been little to no contact between Korean Americans 

14 and family members who remain in North Korea. 

15 (3) North Korea and South Korea first agreed 

16 to reunions of divided families in 1985 and have 

17 since held 20 face-to-face reunions and 7 video link 

18 reunions. 

19 (4) Those reunions have subsequently given ap20 proximately 22,000 Koreans the opportunity to 

21 briefly reunite with loved ones. 

22 (5) The most recent family reunions between 

23 North Korea and South Korea took place in August 

24 2018 and did not include any Korean Americans. 

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

26 maintain diplomatic relations and certain limitations 


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1 exist on Korean Americans participating in face-to2 face reunions. 

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

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

5 are of Korean descent. 

6 (8) The number of first generation Korean and 

7 Korean American family members divided from fam8 ily members in North Korea is rapidly diminishing 

9 given the advanced age of those family members. 

10 More than 3,000 elderly South Koreans die each 

11 year without having been reunited with their family 

12 members. 

13 (9) Many Korean Americans with family mem14 bers in North Korea have not seen or communicated 

15 with those family members in more than 60 years. 

16 (10) The inclusion of Korean American families 

17 in the reunion process would constitute a positive 

18 humanitarian gesture by the Government of North 

19 Korea. 

20 (11) Section 1265 of the National Defense Au21 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 

22 110–181; 122 Stat. 407) required the President to 

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

24 the United States Government to facilitate family reVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:52 Mar 29, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1771.IH H1771

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1 unions between United States citizens and their rel2 atives in North Korea’’. 

3 (12) The position of Special Envoy on North 

4 Korean Human Rights Issues has been vacant since 

5 January 2017, although the President is required to 

6 appoint a Senate-confirmed Special Envoy to fill this 

7 position in accordance with section 107 of the North 

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

9 7817). 

10 (13) In the report of the Committee on Appro11 priations of the House of Representatives accom12 panying H.R. 3081, 111th Congress (House Report 

13 111–187), the Committee urged ‘‘the Special Rep14 resentative on North Korea Policy, as the senior of15 ficial handling North Korea issues, to prioritize the 

16 issues involving Korean divided families and to, if 

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

18 (b) CONSULTATIONS REQUIRED.— 

19 (1) CONSULTATIONS WITH SOUTH KOREA.— 

20 The Secretary of State, or a designee of the Sec21 retary, shall consult with officials of South Korea, as 

22 appropriate, on potential opportunities to reunite 

23 Korean American families with family members in 

24 North Korea from which such Korean American 


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1 families were divided after the signing of the Korean 

2 War Armistice Agreement. 

3 (2) CONSULTATIONS WITH KOREAN AMERI4 CANS.—Not less frequently than once every 180 

5 days, the Special Envoy on North Korean Human 

6 Rights Issues of the Department of State shall con7 sult with representatives of Korean Americans with 

8 family members in North Korea with respect to ef9 forts to reunite families divided after the signing of 

10 the Korean War Armistice Agreement. 

11 (3) NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF AP12 PROPRIATIONS.—No additional amounts are author13 ized to be appropriated to the Department of State 

14 to carry out consultations under this subsection. 

15 (c) REPORTS REQUIRED.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, act17 ing through the Special Envoy on North Korean 

18 Human Rights Issues, shall submit to Congress, as 

19 part of each report required under section 107(d) of 

20 the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 

21 U.S.C. 7817(d)), a report on consultations described 

22 in subsection (b) conducted during the year pre23 ceding the submission of each report required under 

24 such section 107(d). 


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1 (2) INTEGRATION OF TECHNOLOGY INTO FAM2 ILY REUNIONS.—Not later than 90 days after the 

3 date of the enactment of this Act, the Special Envoy 

4 on North Korean Human Rights Issues of the De5 partment of State shall submit to the Committee on 

6 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and 

7 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 

8 a report on the opportunities for video reunions be9 tween Korean Americans with family members in 

10 North Korea. 

11 (3) FORM.—The reports required by para12 graphs (1) and (2) shall be submitted in unclassified 

13 form to the maximum extent possible, but may in14 clude classified annexes. 

Æ 


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