Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress finds the following: The North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 ( Public Law 108–333 ; 22 U.S.C. 7801 et seq. ) and subsequent reauthorizations were the product of broad, bipartisan consensus regarding the promotion of human rights, documentation of human rights violations, transparency in the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and the importance of refugee protection. The human rights and humanitarian conditions within the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea
(DPRK)remain deplorable and have been intentionally perpetuated against the people of North Korea through policies endorsed and implemented by Kim Jong-Un and the Korean Workers’ Party. According to a 2014 report released by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry, between 80,000 and 120,000 children, women, and men are currently being held in political prison camps in North Korea and are subjected to deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape, forced abortion, and infanticide. North Korea continues to hold a number of South Koreans abducted after the signing of the 1953 armistice agreement and refuses to acknowledge the abduction of over 100,000 South Koreans during the Korean war in violation of the Geneva Convention. Human rights violations in North Korea, which include forced starvation, sexual violence against women and children, restrictions on freedom of movement, arbitrary detention, torture, executions, and enforced disappearances, amount to crimes against humanity according to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry
(COI)on Human Rights in the DPRK. The effects of the COVID–19 pandemic and the DPRK’s strict lockdown of its borders and crackdowns on informal market activities and small entrepreneurship have drastically increased food insecurity for its people and given rise to famine conditions in parts of the country. The DPRK’s COVID–19 border lockdown measures also include shoot-to-kill orders that has resulted in the killing of North Koreans attempting to cross the border and at least one South Korean citizen in September 2020. The Government of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC)is aiding and abetting in crimes against humanity by forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees to the DPRK. Upon repatriation, North Koreans are sent to prison camps, harshly interrogated, tortured, or executed. The Government of the People’s Republic of China’s forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees violates its non-refoulement obligations, under the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, done at Geneva July 28, 1951 (as made applicable by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, done at New York January 31, 1967 (19 UST 6223)). The DPRK continues to bar freedom of religion and persecute religious minorities, especially Christians. Eyewitnesses reported that Christians in North Korea have been tortured, forcibly detained, and even executed for possessing a Bible or professing Christianity. Broadcasting operations into the DPRK serve as a critical source of outside news and information for the North Korean people and provides a valuable service for countering propaganda and false narratives. The position of Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues has been vacant since January 2017, although the President is required to appoint a Senate-confirmed Special Envoy to fill this position in accordance with section 107 of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 ( 22 U.S.C. 7817 ).
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- Pub. L. 108-333
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