Title: A resolution commemorating Otto Frederick Warmbier and condemning the North Korean regime for their continued human rights abuses.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution expresses remembrance for the life of Otto Frederick Warmbier on the third anniversary of his death. The resolution condemns North Korea for his death and calls for sanctions against North Korea to remain fully implemented until North Korea commits to the suspension of its proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 623 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 623

 Commemorating Otto Frederick Warmbier and condemning the North Korean 
            regime for their continued human rights abuses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 16, 2020

    Mr. Portman (for himself and Mr. Brown) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Commemorating Otto Frederick Warmbier and condemning the North Korean 
            regime for their continued human rights abuses.

Whereas Otto Frederick Warmbier was born on December 12, 1994, in Cincinnati, 
        Ohio, to parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier;
Whereas, upon his graduation as Salutatorian from Wyoming High School in 2013, 
        Otto attended the University of Virginia;
Whereas, on December 29, 2015, Otto flew to North Korea as part of a guided 
        tour;
Whereas, on January 2, 2016, the Government of the Democratic People's Republic 
        of Korea arrested Otto Warmbier on false charges of ``subversion'' and 
        committing a ``hostile act'';
Whereas, on March 16, 2016, Otto Warmbier was convicted and sentenced to 15 
        years of hard labor;
Whereas, as a result of his mistreatment at the hands of North Korean 
        authorities, Otto Warmbier suffered a serious medical emergency which 
        placed him into a comatose state, and the North Korean authorities 
        failed to report the deterioration of Otto Warmbier's physical condition 
        to United States authorities;
Whereas, on June 13, 2017, after 17 months in captivity, the United States 
        Department of State announced that it had secured the release of Otto 
        Warmbier, whereupon he was medically evacuated from North Korea in a 
        comatose state to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center;
Whereas, on June 19, 2017, Otto Warmbier died in the hospital as a result of his 
        mistreatment at the hands of the Government of the Democratic People's 
        Republic of Korea;
Whereas, on December 24, 2018, the United States District Court for the District 
        of Columbia concluded that the Government of the Democratic People's 
        Republic of Korea was responsible for the ``torture, hostage taking, and 
        extrajudicial killing'' of Otto Warmbier;
Whereas, on December 18, 2019, in an annual resolution, the United Nations 
        General Assembly condemned ``the long-standing and ongoing systematic, 
        widespread and gross violations of human rights in and by'' North Korea; 
        and
Whereas, on December 20, 2019, the Otto Warmbier North Korea Nuclear Sanctions 
        and Enforcement Act of 2019 (title LXXI of Public Law 116-92), was 
        enacted: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That, in recognition of the 3rd anniversary of Otto 
Warmbier's passing on June 19, 2020, the Senate--
            (1) remembers and celebrates the life of Otto Frederick 
        Warmbier, a young man with great potential;
            (2) condemns the Government of the Democratic People's 
        Republic of Korea, which is responsible for the unjustified 
        arrest, mistreatment, and death of Otto Warmbier;
            (3) calls for the United States Government to continue to 
        use its voice and vote in the United Nations to condemn 
        systematic human rights violations in North Korea; and
            (4) calls for the sanctions enacted in the Otto Warmbier 
        North Korea Nuclear Sanctions and Enforcement Act of 2019 
        (title LXXI of Public Law 116-92) to remain fully implemented 
        until such time that the Government of the Democratic People's 
        Republic of Korea commits to the verifiable suspension of its 
        proliferation and testing of weapons of mass destruction, and 
        has agreed to multilateral talks, including the United States 
        Government, with the goal of permanently and verifiably 
        limiting North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and 
        ballistic missile programs.
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