IV 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 376 
Calling for the repatriation of POW/MIAs and abductees from the Korean 
War. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 27, 2011 
Mr. RANGEL submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Calling for the repatriation of POW/MIAs and abductees 
from the Korean War. 
Whereas 61 years have passed since communist North Korea 
invaded the Republic of Korea, thereby initiating the Ko-
rean War on June 25, 1950; 
Whereas during the Korean War, nearly 1.8 million members 
of the United States Armed Forces served in theater 
along with the forces of the Republic of Korea and 20 
other Allied nations under the United Nations Command 
to defend freedom and democracy in the Korean Penin-
sula; 
Whereas 58 years have passed after the signing of the 
ceasefire agreement at Panmunjom on July 27, 1953, 
and the peninsula still technically remains in a state of 
war; 
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Whereas talks for a peace treaty began on July 10, 1951, but 
were postponed due to disagreement between the United 
Nations and North Korea regarding the repatriation of 
prisoners of war (POWs); 
Whereas the repatriation of Korean War POWs did not begin 
until September 4, 1953, at Freedom Village, Pan-
munjom; 
Whereas the majority of surviving United Nations POWs 
were repatriated or turned over to the Neutral Nations 
Repatriation Commission in accordance with Section 3 of 
the Armistice Agreement, but the United Nations Com-
mand noted a significant discrepancy between the Com-
mand’s estimate of POWs and the number given by 
North Korea; 
Whereas the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Of-
fice of the Department of Defense (DPMO) lists more 
than 8,000 members of the United States Armed Forces 
as POWs or missing in action who are unaccounted for 
from the Korean War; 
Whereas many South Korean POWs were never reported as 
POWs during the negotiations, and it is estimated as 
many as 73,000 South Korean POWs were not repatri-
ated; 
Whereas the Joint Field Activities conducted by the United 
States between 1996 and 2005 yielded over 220 sets of 
remains that are still being processed for identification at 
Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting 
Command in Hawaii; 
Whereas the United States recovery operations in North 
Korea were suspended on May 25, 2005, because the 
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•HRES 376 IH 
teams were prohibited from using communications equip-
ment; 
Whereas North Korea has consistently refused to discuss the 
POW issue, and the exact number of South Korean 
POWs who were detained in North Korea after the war 
is unknown, as is the number of those still alive in North 
Korea; 
Whereas approximately 100,000 South Korean civilians (po-
litical leaders, public employees, lawyers, journalists, 
scholars, farmers, etc.) were forcibly abducted by the 
North Korean Army during the Korean War, but North 
Korea has neither admitted the abductions occurred nor 
accounted for or repatriated the civilians; 
Whereas former South Korean POWs and abductees who es-
caped from North Korea have provided valuable and 
credible information on sightings of American and South 
Korean POWs in concentration camps; 
Whereas tens of thousands of friends and families of the 
POW/MIAs and abductees from the Korean War, includ-
ing the National Alliance of POW/MIA Families, POW/ 
MIA Freedom Fighters, the Coalition of Families of Ko-
rean & Cold War POW/MIAs, the International Korean 
War Memorial Foundation POW Affairs Committee, 
Rolling Thunder, Inc., the Korean War Abductees Family 
Union, the Korea National Red Cross, World Veterans 
Federation, and the National Assembly of Republic of 
Korea, have called for full accounting of the POW/MIAs 
and abductees by North Korea; and 
Whereas July 27, 2011, is the National Korean War Vet-
erans Armistice Day, which is a day of remembrance and 
recognition of Korean War veterans and those persons 
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•HRES 376 IH 
who never returned home from the Korean War: Now, 
therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) recognizes there are American and South 
Korean prisoners of war and civilian abductees from 
the Korean War who are still alive in North Korea 
and who want to be repatriated; 
(2) calls upon the United States Government to 
resume search and recovery operations in North 
Korea for remains of American POWs; 
(3) recommends that the United States and 
South Korean Governments jointly investigate re-
ports of sightings of American POW/MIAs; 
(4) encourages North Korea to repatriate any 
American and South Korean POWs to their home 
countries to reunite with their families under the 
International Humanitarian Law set forth in the 
Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of Pris-
oners of War; 
(5) calls upon North Korea to admit to the ab-
duction of more than 100,000 South Korean civil-
ians and reveal the status of the abductees; and 
(6) calls upon North Korea to agree to the fam-
ily reunions and immediate repatriation of the 
abductees under the International Humanitarian 
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Law set forth in the Geneva Convention relative to 
the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. 
Æ 
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