SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘North Korean Human 
Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The North Korean Human Rights Act of 
2004 (22 U.S.C. 7801 et seq.), the North Korean 
Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 (Public 
Law 110–346), and the Ambassador James R. 
Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North 
Korea Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2012 
(Public Law 112–172) were the products of broad, 
bipartisan consensus regarding the promotion of 
human rights, transparency in the delivery of hu-
manitarian assistance, and the importance of refugee 
protection. 
(2) Fundamental human rights and humani-
tarian conditions inside North Korea remain deplor-
able, North Korean refugees remain acutely vulner-
able, and the congressional findings included in the 
Acts listed in paragraph (1) remain substantially ac-
curate today. 
(3) The United States, which has the largest 
international refugee resettlement program in the 
world, has resettled 212 North Koreans since the en-
actment of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 
2004. 
(4) In addition to the longstanding commitment 
of the United States to refugee and human rights 
advocacy, the United States is home to the largest 
Korean population outside of northeast Asia, and 
many people in the Korean-American community 
have family ties to North Korea. 
(5) Notwithstanding high-level advocacy by the 
United States, South Korea, and the United Nations 
High Commissioner for Refugees, China has forcibly 
repatriated tens of thousands of North Koreans. 
(6) Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega 
served 25 years in the House of Representatives, in-
cluding as the Chairman and the Ranking Member 
of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and 
the Pacific, was a leader in strengthening the rela-
tionship between the American and Korean peoples, 
authored multiple resolutions regarding issues on the 
Korean Peninsula, was a champion of human rights, 
and stated, in support of the Ambassador James R. 
Lilley and Congressman Stephen J. Solarz North 
Korea Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2012, 
that ‘‘just as Ambassador Lilley and Congressman 
Solarz worked hard to protect the human rights of
the North Korean people, we must remain vigilant 
in helping the people of North Korea who struggle 
daily to escape the oppression and tyranny of the 
North Korean regime’’. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the United States should continue to seek 
cooperation from all foreign governments to allow 
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 
access to process North Korean refugees overseas 
for resettlement and to allow United States officials 
access to process refugees for resettlement in the 
United States (if that is the destination country of 
the refugees’ choosing); 
(2) the Secretary of State, through persistent 
diplomacy by senior officials, including United 
States ambassadors to Asia-Pacific countries, and in 
close cooperation with United States ally South 
Korea, should make every effort to promote the pro-
tection of North Korean refugees and defectors; and 
(3) because North Koreans fleeing into China 
face a well-founded fear of persecution upon their 
forcible repatriation, the United States should urge 
China to—
(A) immediately halt the forcible repatri-
ation of North Koreans; 
(B) allow the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Refugees unimpeded access to 
North Koreans inside China to determine 
whether such North Koreans require protection 
as refugees; and 
(C) fulfill its obligations under the 1951 
United Nations Convention Relating to the Sta-
tus of Refugees, the 1967 Protocol Relating to 
the Status of Refugees, and the Agreement on 
the Upgrading of the UNHCR Mission in the 
People’s Republic of China to UNHCR Branch 
Office in the People’s Republic of China (signed 
December 1, 1995). 
(b) CONTINUING SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It remains 
the sense of Congress, as specified in section 3(3) of the 
North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 
(Public Law 110–346; 22 U.S.C. 7801 note), that ‘‘the 
Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues 
should be a full-time position within the Department of 
State in order to properly promote and coordinate North 
Korean human rights and humanitarian issues, and to 
participate in policy planning and implementation with re-
spect to refugee issues, as intended by the North Korean
Human Rights Act of 2004 (Public Law 108–333; 22 
U.S.C. 7801 et seq.)’’. 
SEC. 4. REAUTHORIZATION OF THE NORTH KOREAN 
HUMAN RIGHTS ACT OF 2004. 
(a) HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY PROGRAMS.— 
Paragraph (1) of section 102(b) of the North Korean 
Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 7812(b)) is amend-
ed by striking ‘‘2017’’ and inserting ‘‘2022’’. 
(b) PROMOTING FREEDOM OF INFORMATION.—Sec-
tion 104 of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 
(22 U.S.C. 7814) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(1)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘$2,000,000’’ and inserting 
‘‘$3,000,000’’; and 
(B) by striking ‘‘2017’’ and inserting 
‘‘2022’’; and 
(2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘2017’’ and 
inserting ‘‘2022’’. 
(c) REPORT BY SPECIAL ENVOY ON NORTH KOREAN 
HUMAN RIGHTS.—Subsection (d) of section 107 of the 
North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 
7817) is amended by striking ‘‘2017’’ and inserting 
‘‘2022’’. 
(d) REPORT ON HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE.—Sec-
tion 201 of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004