Title: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that complete, verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements in the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea should be part of a United States strategy for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Requests that the President include complete and verifiable human rights improvements in North Korea as part of the U.S. negotiating strategy with North Korea, China, and regional allies.


[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 976 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 976

  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that complete, 
     verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements in the 
Democratic People's Republic of North Korea should be part of a United 
States strategy for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open 
                          Indo-Pacific region.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 28, 2018

Mr. Smith of New Jersey (for himself, Mrs. Hartzler, and Mr. Pittenger) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that complete, 
     verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements in the 
Democratic People's Republic of North Korea should be part of a United 
States strategy for a nuclear-free Korean peninsula and a free and open 
                          Indo-Pacific region.

Whereas the threat from nuclear proliferation from the Democratic People's 
        Republic of Korea (North Korea) is a clear and present danger to the 
        United States and regional allies;
Whereas the Administration's efforts to engage in diplomatic negotiations to 
        return American hostages and the remains of Americans killed during the 
        Korean War, and to seek the complete, irreversible and verifiable 
        denuclearization of the Korean peninsula are welcome and commendable 
        achievements;
Whereas the Government of North Korea continues to engage in systematic, 
        widespread, and gross human rights violations, including arbitrary 
        detentions, torture, forced abortion, human trafficking, particularly 
        severe religious freedom abuses, public execution of political 
        prisoners, the death of United States citizen Otto Warmbier and 
        political purges of relatives and family members, including through the 
        use of chemical weapons;
Whereas these violations, including the creation of large refugee flows and 
        famines, the abduction of Japanese, South Korean, and United States 
        citizens, and the trafficking of North Korean citizens, remain a 
        distinct threat to regional stability, whether or not North Korea 
        possesses nuclear weapons;
Whereas the human trafficking of North Korean citizens has provided the 
        Government of North Korea with foreign currency which supports its 
        efforts to avoid international sanctions and supports its nuclear 
        ambitions;
Whereas there remain an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners in North 
        Korea, detained in a system of political prison labor camps;
Whereas in 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the 
        Democratic People's Republic of Korea found that the violations 
        perpetrated against the people of North Korea were established at the 
        highest level of the Government of North Korea, and such gross human 
        rights violations amount to crimes against humanity in many instances;
Whereas the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the 
        Democratic People's Republic of Korea also found that North Korean 
        nationals forcibly repatriated by the Government of the People's 
        Republic of China are subject to torture, prolonged arbitrary detention 
        and, in some cases, sexual violence, including invasive body searches;
Whereas North Korean nationals found to have been in contact with officials or 
        nationals from the Republic of Korea (South Korea) or with Christian 
        churches or humanitarian aid workers may be forcibly ``disappeared'' 
        into prison labor camps, imprisoned in ordinary prisons, or even 
        summarily executed;
Whereas the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the 
        Democratic People's Republic of Korea urged the Chinese Government to 
        caution relevant officials that repatriation of North Korean nationals 
        could amount to the aiding and abetting of crimes against humanity where 
        repatriations and information exchanges lead to the facilitation or 
        commission of crimes against humanity in North Korea;
Whereas China arrests, detains, or imprisons those individuals who try to assist 
        North Korean refugees inside China's borders; and
Whereas, notwithstanding high-level advocacy by the United States, South Korea, 
        and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 
        China has forcibly repatriated tens of thousands of North Koreans: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) requests that the President--
                    (A) make complete, verifiable, and irreversible 
                human rights improvements in the Democratic People's 
                Republic of Korea (North Korea) part of United States 
                negotiating strategy with North Korea, the People's 
                Republic of China, and regional allies;
                    (B) even in the event of concluding an agreement of 
                a complete, verifiable and irreversible 
                denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, condition 
                economic or other assistance and the lifting of 
                individual sanctions currently imposed on North Korean 
                officials on complete, verifiable, and irreversible 
                human rights improvements in North Korea;
                    (C) seek the dismantling of North Korea's political 
                prison labor camps and the release of all political and 
                religious prisoners, estimated at between 80,000 to 
                120,000;
                    (D) as part of a comprehensive, ongoing negotiating 
                strategy with North Korea, consult international 
                experts about the strategic and political relevance of 
                the cult of personality surrounding the Kim family 
                (sometimes referred to as ``Juche''), including by 
                seeking options for addressing this quasi-religious 
                ideology in talks with North Korea;
                    (E) seek the Chinese Government's compliance with 
                its international obligations to protect and resettle 
                North Korean refugees and to halt the trafficking of 
                persons; and
                    (F) consider placing any North Korean and Chinese 
                officials complicit in the abuses described in the 
                preamble of this resolution on the list of specially 
                designated nationals and blocked persons maintained by 
                the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department 
                of the Treasury under existing sanctions authorities;
            (2) requests that the Secretary of State submit to the 
        Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 
        and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, not later 
        than 90 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution, 
        a report, that should include--
                    (A) a strategy to realize the complete, verifiable, 
                and irreversible human rights improvements in the 
                Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and 
                the protection of North Korean asylum seekers in China 
                or elsewhere and including efforts to increase 
                international coordination and cooperation, whether 
                unilaterally, bilaterally, or multilaterally to address 
                human rights in North Korea;
                    (B) information about the system of prison labor 
                camps in North Korea and options available for United 
                States diplomacy to permanently close these camps and 
                seek the release of an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 
                political and religious prisoners;
                    (C) information and an assessment of efforts to 
                provide uncensored news and other information into 
                North Korea and whether additional resources are needed 
                to expand such efforts;
                    (D) information on efforts to stop the Government 
                of North Korea and other countries from benefitting 
                from human trafficking of North Korean citizens;
                    (E) information about what sanctions are being 
                employed as part of the effort to achieve complete, 
                verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements, 
                including sanctions that may be employed under the 
                International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 
                6401 et seq.), the Trafficking Victims Protection Act 
                of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.), and the Global 
                Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 
                2656 note);
                    (F) information about the termination of any 
                sanction with respect to the activities of the 
                Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea 
                on officials and entities complicit in gross violations 
                of internationally recognized human rights;
                    (G) information on efforts to protect North Korean 
                refugees in China and elsewhere and options for United 
                States policy;
                    (H) information on efforts to address individuals 
                separated or forcibly removed from their families 
                through displacement during the Korean War, enforced 
                disappearances and abduction;
                    (I) information on whether non-sanctioned medical 
                assistance is reaching North Korea or is being blocked 
                in China or elsewhere and whether the Administration 
                needs any additional congressional authority if such 
                humanitarian assistance is blocked;
                    (J) information on how the provisions of the North 
                Korean Human Rights Act and the North Korea Sanctions 
                and Policy Enhancement Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-122; 
                22 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.), are being implemented and 
                integrated into the overall strategy; and
                    (K) information on efforts to repatriate the 
                remains of Americans killed in action during the Korean 
                War;
            (3) requests that the Administration consider using the 
        voice and vote of the United States to establish an ad hoc or 
        special international criminal tribunal, or a regional or 
        international hybrid court, to investigate and remedy crimes 
        against humanity and other atrocity crimes, as appropriate, in 
        North Korea or those crimes targeting North Korean nationals in 
        other countries such as China;
            (4) requests that the Administration consider section 
        104(a)(5) of the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement 
        Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-122; 22 U.S.C. 9201 et seq.), which 
        requires the President to impose mandatory penalties under 
        United States law on any person that ``knowingly engages in, is 
        responsible for, or facilitates serious human rights abuses by 
        the Government of North Korea'', as applying to any individual 
        or entity that is complicit in the trafficking of North Korean 
        refugees or the forced repatriation of North Korean refugees; 
        and
            (5) requests that the Secretary of State, the Secretary of 
        Homeland Security, the United States Ambassador to the United 
        Nations, and the heads of other relevant United States 
        agencies, assist in finding both temporary and durable 
        solutions for North Korean asylum seekers in China or 
        elsewhere.
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