II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3156 

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

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 23, 2010 

Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself and Ms. LANDRIEU) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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 2010’’. 

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; and 

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

7 Homeland Security should make every effort to fa8 cilitate the immediate care, family reunification, and, 

9 if necessary and appropriate, the adoption of any eli10 gible North Korean children. 

11 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

12 In this Act: 

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

14 ‘‘foreign-sending country’’— 

15 (A) means— 

16 (i) the country of the orphan’s citizen17 ship; or 

18 (ii) if the orphan is not permanently 

19 residing in the country of citizenship, the 

20 country of the orphan’s habitual residence; 

21 and 

22 (B) excludes any country to which the or23 phan— 

24 (i) travels temporarily; or 


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1 (ii) travels as a prelude to, or in con2 junction with, his or her adoption or immi3 gration to the United States. 

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

5 countries’’ means a country that is a signatory of 

6 the Convention on Protection of Children and Co7 operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done 

8 at The Hague on May 29, 1993. 

9 (3) NON-HAGUE COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘non10 Hague country’’ means a country that is not a sig11 natory of the Convention on Protection of Children 

12 and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adop13 tion, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993. 

14 SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ADOPTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHIL15 DREN BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con17 sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 

18 Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall develop 

19 a comprehensive strategy for facilitating the adoption of 

20 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 aid or24 ganizations in Southeast Asia to identify and estab25 lish pilot programs for the identification, immediate 


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1 care, family reunification, and international adoption 

2 of orphaned children from North Korea; 

3 (7) identify other nations in which large num4 bers of stateless, orphaned children were living who 

5 might be helped by international adoption; and 

6 (8) propose solutions for assisting orphaned 

7 children with Chinese fathers and North Korean 

8 mothers who are living in China and have no access 

9 to Chinese or North Korean resources. 

10 (c) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 

11 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec12 retary of State shall submit a written report to Congress 

13 that contains the details of the strategy developed under 

14 this section. 

Æ 


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