H. Res. 891 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
September 28, 2016. 
Whereas David Louis Sneddon is a United States citizen who 
disappeared while touring the Yunnan Province in the 
People’s Republic of China as a university student on Au-
gust 14, 2004, at the age of 24; 
Whereas David had last reported to family members prior to 
his disappearance that he intended to hike the Tiger 
Leaping Gorge in the Yunnan Province before returning 
to the United States and had placed a downpayment on 
student housing for the upcoming academic year, planned 
business meetings, and scheduled law school entrance ex-
aminations in the United States for the fall; 
Whereas People’s Republic of China officials have reported to 
the Department of State and the family of David that he 
most likely died by falling into the Jinsha River while 
hiking the Tiger Leaping Gorge, although no physical 
evidence or eyewitness testimony exists to support this 
conclusion; 
Whereas there is evidence indicating that David did not fall 
into the river when he traveled through the gorge, includ-
ing eyewitness testimonies from people who saw David 
alive and spoke to him in person after his hike, as re-
corded by members of David’s family and by embassy of-
•HRES 891 EH 
ficials from the Department of State in the months after 
his disappearance; 
Whereas family members searching for David shortly after he 
went missing obtained eyewitness accounts that David 
stayed overnight in several guesthouses during and after 
his safe hike through the gorge, and these guesthouse lo-
cations suggest that David disappeared after passing 
through the gorge, but the guest registers recording the 
names and passport numbers of foreign overnight guests 
could not be accessed; 
Whereas Chinese officials have reported that evidence does 
not exist that David was a victim of violent crime, or a 
resident in a local hospital, prison, or mental institution 
at the time of his disappearance, and no attempt has 
been made to use David’s passport since the time of his 
disappearance, nor has any money been withdrawn from 
his bank account since that time; 
Whereas David Sneddon is the only United States citizen to 
disappear without explanation in the People’s Republic of 
China since the normalization of relations between the 
United States and China during the administration of 
President Richard Nixon; 
Whereas investigative reporters and nongovernmental organi-
zations with expertise in the Asia-Pacific region, and in 
some cases particular expertise in the Asian Underground 
Railroad and North Korea’s program, documented his-
torically, to kidnap citizens of foreign nations for espio-
nage purposes, have repeatedly raised the possibility that 
the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of 
Korea (DPRK) was involved in David’s disappearance; 
and
•HRES 891 EH 
Whereas investigative reporters and nongovernmental organi-
zations who have reviewed David’s case believe it is pos-
sible that the Government of North Korea was involved 
in David’s disappearance because— 
(1) the Yunnan Province is regarded by regional ex-
perts as an area frequently trafficked by North Korean 
refugees and their support networks, and the Government 
of the People’s Republic of China allows North Korean 
agents to operate throughout the region to repatriate ref-
ugees, such as prominent North Korean defector Kang 
Byong-sop and members of his family who were captured 
near the China-Laos border just weeks prior to David’s 
disappearance; 
(2) in 2002, North Korean officials acknowledged 
that the Government of North Korea has carried out a 
policy since the 1970s of abducting foreign citizens and 
holding them captive in North Korea for the purpose of 
training its intelligence and military personnel in critical 
language and culture skills to infiltrate foreign nations; 
(3) Charles Robert Jenkins, a United States soldier 
who deserted his unit in South Korea in 1965 and was 
held captive in North Korea for nearly 40 years, left 
North Korea in July 2004 (one month before David dis-
appeared in China) and Jenkins reported that he was 
forced to teach English to North Korean intelligence and 
military personnel while in captivity; 
(4) David Sneddon is fluent in the Korean language 
and was learning Mandarin, skills that could have been 
appealing to the Government of North Korea; 
(5) tensions between the United States and North 
Korea were heightened during the summer of 2004 due 
to recent approval of the North Korean Human Rights 
Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–333) that increased United
•HRES 891 EH 
States aid to refugees fleeing North Korea, prompting 
the Government of North Korea to issue a press release 
warning the United States to ‘‘drop its hostile policy’’; 
(6) David Sneddon’s disappearance fits a known his-
torical pattern often seen in the abduction of foreigners 
by the Government of North Korea; 
(7) a well-reputed Japanese nonprofit specializing in 
North Korean abductions shared with the United States 
its expert analysis in 2012 about information it stated 
was received ‘‘from a reliable source’’ that a United 
States 
university 
student 
largely 
matching 
David 
Sneddon’s description was taken from China by North 
Korean agents in August 2004; and 
(8) commentary published in the Wall Street Jour-
nal in 2013 cited experts looking at the Sneddon case 
who concluded that ‘‘it is most probable that a U.S. na-
tional has been abducted to North Korea,’’ and ‘‘there is 
a strong possibility that North Korea kidnapped the 
American’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) expresses its ongoing concern about the dis-
appearance of David Louis Sneddon in Yunnan Prov-
ince, People’s Republic of China, in August, 2004; 
(2) encourages the Department of State and the in-
telligence community to jointly continue investigations 
and to consider all plausible explanations for David’s 
disappearance, including the possibility of abduction by 
the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of 
Korea;