IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1771 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 10, 2020 

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

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Divided Families Re3 unification Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CONSULTATIONS ON REUNITING KOREAN AMERI5 CANS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS IN NORTH 

6 KOREA. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find8 ings: 

9 (1) The division of the Korean Peninsula into 

10 South Korea and North Korea separated thousands 

11 of Koreans from family members. 

12 (2) Since the signing of the Agreement Con13 cerning a Military Armistice in Korea, signed at 

14 Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly referred to as 

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

16 been little to no contact between Korean Americans 

17 and family members who remain in North Korea. 

18 (3) North Korea and South Korea first agreed 

19 to reunions of divided families in 1985 and have 

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

21 video link reunions. 

22 (4) Those reunions have subsequently given ap23 proximately 24,500 Koreans the opportunity to 

24 briefly reunite with loved ones. 


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1 (5) The most recent family reunions between 

2 North Korea and South Korea took place in August 

3 2018 and did not include any Korean Americans. 

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

5 maintain diplomatic relations and certain limitations 

6 exist on Korean Americans participating in face-to7 face reunions. 

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

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

10 are of Korean descent. 

11 (8) The number of first generation Korean and 

12 Korean American family members divided from fam13 ily members in North Korea is rapidly diminishing 

14 given the advanced age of those family members. 

15 More than 3,000 elderly South Koreans die each 

16 year without having been reunited with their family 

17 members. 

18 (9) Many Korean Americans with family mem19 bers in North Korea have not seen or communicated 

20 with those family members in more than 60 years. 

21 (10) The inclusion of Korean American families 

22 in the reunion process would constitute a positive 

23 humanitarian gesture by the Government of North 

24 Korea. 


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1 (11) Section 1265 of the National Defense Au2 thorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 (Public Law 

3 110–181; 122 Stat. 407) required the President to 

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

5 the United States Government to facilitate family re6 unions between United States citizens and their rel7 atives in North Korea’’. 

8 (12) The position of Special Envoy on North 

9 Korean Human Rights Issues has been vacant since 

10 January 2017, although the President is required to 

11 appoint a Senate-confirmed Special Envoy to fill this 

12 position in accordance with section 107 of the North 

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

14 7817). 

15 (13) In the report of the Committee on Appro16 priations of the House of Representatives accom17 panying H.R. 3081, 111th Congress (House Report 

18 111–187), the Committee urged ‘‘the Special Rep19 resentative on North Korea Policy, as the senior of20 ficial handling North Korea issues, to prioritize the 

21 issues involving Korean divided families and to, if 

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

23 (b) CONSULTATIONS.— 

24 (1) CONSULTATIONS WITH SOUTH KOREA.— 

25 The Secretary of State, or a designee of the SecVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:16 Mar 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1771.RFS H1771

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1 retary, should consult with officials of South Korea, 

2 as appropriate, on potential opportunities to reunite 

3 Korean American families with family members in 

4 North Korea from which such Korean American 

5 families were divided after the signing of the Korean 

6 War Armistice Agreement, including potential oppor7 tunities for video reunions for Korean Americans 

8 with such family members. 

9 (2) CONSULTATIONS WITH KOREAN AMERI10 CANS.—The Special Envoy on North Korean Human 

11 Rights Issues of the Department of State should 

12 regularly consult with representatives of Korean 

13 Americans who have family members in North 

14 Korea with respect to efforts to reunite families di15 vided after the signing of the Korean War Armistice 

16 Agreement, including potential opportunities for 

17 video reunions for Korean Americans with such fam18 ily members. 

19 (3) NO ADDITIONAL AUTHORIZATION OF AP20 PROPRIATIONS.—No additional amounts are author21 ized to be appropriated to the Department of State 

22 to carry out consultations under this subsection. 

23 (c) ADDITIONAL MATTER IN REPORT.—The Sec24 retary of State, acting through the Special Envoy on 

25 North Korean Human Rights Issues, shall include in each 


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

2 Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 7817(d)), a de3 scription of the consultations described in subsection (b) 

4 conducted during the year preceding the submission of 

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

Passed the House of Representatives March 9, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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