Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: The North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 ( Public Law 108–333 ; 22 U.S.C. 7801 et seq. ) and subsequent reauthorizations of such Act aimed to promote the protection of human rights, documentation of human rights violations, transparency in the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and the importance of refugee protection. According to the State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, there are widespread reports of political prisoners and detainees… most external estimates were between 80,000 and 120,000; some NGOs placed the figure as high as 200,000.
North Korea continues to hold a number of South Koreans and Japanese abducted after the signing of the Agreement Concerning a Military Armistice in Korea, signed at Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly referred to as the Korean War Armistice Agreement ) and refuses to acknowledge the abduction of more than 100,000 South Koreans during the Korean War in violation of the Geneva Convention. According to the State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, there are significant human rights violations in North Korea, which include arbitrary or unlawful killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearance; torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment;… and extensive gender based-violence.
The effects of the COVID–19 pandemic and North Korea’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. North Korea’s COVID–19 border lockdown measures also include shoot-to-kill orders that have resulted in the killing of— North Koreans attempting to cross the border; and at least 1 South Korean official in September 2020.
The Government of the People’s Republic of China is aiding and abetting North Korea’s human rights violations by forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees to North Korea where they are sent to prison camps, harshly interrogated, and tortured or executed. The forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees violates the People’s Republic of China’s freely undertaken obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement, as a state party to the the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, done at Geneva July 28, 1951 (and made applicable by the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, done at New York January 31, 1967 (19 UST 6223)).
North Korea continues to deny freedom of religion and persecute religious minorities, especially Christians and followers of Shaminism. Eyewitnesses report that Christians in North Korea have been tortured, forcibly detained, and even executed for possessing a Bible or professing Christianity. The position of Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues was vacant from January 2017 to December 2022, even though 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 ).
In January 2023 President Biden nominated Julie Turner as Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights and Issues She was confirmed in July 2023.
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- Pub. L. 108-333
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