I 
111TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4986 
To develop a strategy for assisting stateless children from North Korea, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 25, 2010 
Mr. ROYCE (for himself, Ms. WATSON, and Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) 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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North Korean Refugee 
Adoption Act of 2010’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) thousands of North Korean children do not 
have families and are threatened with starvation and 
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disease if they remain in North Korea or as stateless 
refugees in surrounding countries; 
(2) thousands of United States citizens would 
welcome the opportunity to adopt North Korean or-
phans; and 
(3) the Secretary of State and the Secretary of 
Homeland Security should make every effort to fa-
cilitate the adoption of any eligible North Korean 
children. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) FOREIGN-SENDING
COUNTRY.—The term 
‘‘foreign-sending country’’— 
(A) means— 
(i) the country of the orphan’s citizen-
ship; or 
(ii) if the orphan is not permanently 
residing in the country of citizenship, the 
country of the orphan’s habitual residence; 
and 
(B) excludes any country to which the or-
phan— 
(i) travels temporarily; or 
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(ii) travels as a prelude to, or in con-
junction with, his or her adoption or immi-
gration to the United States. 
(2) HAGUE
COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘Hague 
countries’’ means a country that is a signatory of 
the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-
operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, done 
at The Hague on May 29, 1993. 
(3) NON-HAGUE
COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘non- 
Hague country’’ means a country that is not a sig-
natory of the Convention on Protection of Children 
and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adop-
tion, done at The Hague on May 29, 1993. 
SEC. 4. STRATEGY ON ADOPTION OF NORTH KOREAN CHIL-
DREN BY UNITED STATES CITIZENS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con-
sultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 
Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall develop 
a comprehensive strategy for facilitating the adoption of 
North Korean children by United States citizens. 
(b) CONSIDERATIONS.—In developing the strategy 
under this section, the Secretary shall— 
(1) consider the challenges that United States 
citizens would encounter in attempting to adopt chil-
dren from North Korea who are currently living in 
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Hague countries and non-Hague countries regard-
less of their legal status in such countries; 
(2) propose solutions to deal with the situation 
in which a North Korean child does not have access 
to a competent authority in the foreign-sending 
country; 
(3) propose solutions to deal with North Korean 
children who are not considered habitual residents of 
the countries in which they are located; 
(4) evaluate alternative mechanisms for foreign- 
sending countries to prove that North Korean chil-
dren are orphans when documentation, such as birth 
certificates, death certificates of birth parents, or or-
phanage documentation, is missing or destroyed; 
(5) provide suggestions for working with South 
Korea to establish pilot programs that identify, pro-
vide for the immediate care of, and assist in the 
international adoption of, orphaned North Korean 
children living within South Korea; 
(6) provide suggestions for working with aid or-
ganizations in Southeast Asia to identify and estab-
lish pilot programs for the identification, immediate 
care, and eventual international adoption of or-
phaned children from North Korea; 
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(7) identify other countries in which large num-
bers of stateless, orphaned children are living who 
might be helped by international adoption; and 
(8) propose solutions for assisting orphaned 
children with Chinese fathers and North Korean 
mothers who are living in China and have no access 
to Chinese or North Korean resources. 
(c) REPORTING REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 90 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary of State shall submit to Congress a report that con-
tains the details of the strategy developed under this sec-
tion. 
Æ 
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