I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8799 
To promote freedom of information and counter censorship and surveillance 
in North Korea, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 9, 2022 
Mr. WENSTRUP (for himself, Mr. CONNOLLY, and Mr. BARR) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, 
and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned 
A BILL 
To promote freedom of information and counter censorship 
and surveillance in 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 ‘‘Otto Warmbier Coun-
tering North Korean Censorship and Surveillance Act of 
2021’’. 
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SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) The information landscape in North Korea 
is the most repressive in the world, consistently 
ranking last or near-last in the annual World Press 
Freedom Index. 
(2) Under the brutal rule of Kim Jung Un, the 
country’s leader since 2012, the North Korean re-
gime has tightened controls on access to informa-
tion, as well as enacted harsh punishments for con-
sumers of outside media, including sentencing to 
time in a concentration camp and a maximum pen-
alty of death. 
(3) Such repressive and unjust laws sur-
rounding information in North Korea resulted in the 
death of 22-year-old United States citizen and uni-
versity student Otto Warmbier, who had traveled to 
North Korea in December 2015 as part of a guided 
tour. 
(4) Otto Warmbier was unjustly arrested, sen-
tenced to 15 years of hard labor, and severely mis-
treated at the hands of North Korean officials. 
While in captivity, Otto Warmbier suffered a serious 
medical emergency that placed him into a comatose 
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state. Otto Warmbier was comatose upon his release 
in June 2017 and died 6 days later. 
(5) Despite increased penalties for possession 
and viewership of foreign media, the people of North 
Korea have increased their desire for foreign media 
content, according to a survey of 200 defectors con-
cluding that 90 percent had watched South Korean 
or other foreign media before defecting. 
(6) On March 23, 2021, in an annual resolu-
tion, the United Nations General Assembly con-
demned ‘‘the long-standing and ongoing systematic, 
widespread and gross violations of human rights in 
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’’ and ex-
pressed grave concern at, among other things, ‘‘the 
denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, 
and religion . . . and of the rights to freedom of 
opinion, expression, and association, both online and 
offline, which is enforced through an absolute mo-
nopoly on information and total control over orga-
nized social life, and arbitrary and unlawful state 
surveillance that permeates the private lives of all 
citizens’’. 
(7) In 2018, Typhoon Yutu caused extensive 
damage to 15 broadcast antennas used by the 
United States Agency for Global Media in Asia, re-
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sulting in reduced programming to North Korea. 
The United States Agency for Global Media has re-
built 5 of the 15 antenna systems as of June 2021. 
(b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that— 
(1) in the event of a crisis situation, particu-
larly where information pertaining to the crisis is 
being actively censored or a false narrative is being 
put forward, the United States should be able to 
quickly increase its broadcasting capability to deliver 
fact-based information to audiences, including those 
in North Korea; and 
(2) the United States International Broad-
casting Surge Capacity Fund is already authorized 
under section 316 of the United States International 
Broadcasting Act of 1994 (22 U.S.C. 6216), and ex-
panded authority to transfer unobligated balances 
from expired accounts of the United States Agency 
for Global Media would enable the Agency to more 
nimbly respond to crises. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
It is the policy of the United States— 
(1) to provide the people of North Korea with 
access to a diverse range of fact-based information; 
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(2) to develop and implement novel means of 
communication and information sharing that in-
crease opportunities for audiences in North Korea to 
safely create, access, and share digital and non-dig-
ital news without fear of repressive censorship, sur-
veillance, or penalties under law; and 
(3) to foster and innovate new technologies to 
counter North Korea’s state-sponsored repressive 
surveillance and censorship by advancing internet 
freedom tools, technologies, and new approaches. 
SEC. 4. UNITED STATES STRATEGY TO COMBAT NORTH KO-
REA’S REPRESSIVE INFORMATION ENVIRON-
MENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the President shall de-
velop and submit to Congress a strategy on combating 
North Korea’s repressive information environment. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The strategy required by subsection 
(a) shall include the following: 
(1) An assessment of the challenges to the free 
flow of information into North Korea created by the 
censorship and surveillance technology apparatus of 
the Government of North Korea. 
(2) A detailed description of the agencies and 
other government entities, key officials, and security 
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