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 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 North Korea remain deplorable and have been intentionally perpetuated against the people of North Korea through policies endorsed and implemented by Kim Jong-un and the Workers’ Party of Korea.
According to a 2014 report released by the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, between 80,000 and 120,000 children, women, and men were being held in political prison camps in North Korea, where they were subjected to deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape, forced abortion, and infanticide. 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.
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 on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. 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 citizen in September 2020. The Chinese Communist Party and the Government of the People’s Republic of China are aiding and abetting in crimes against humanity 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, under 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 bar freedom of religion and persecute religious minorities, especially Christians.
Eyewitnesses report that Christians in North Korea have been tortured, forcibly detained, and even executed for possessing a Bible or professing Christianity. United States and international broadcasting operations into North Korea— serve as a critical source of outside news and information for the North Korean people; and provide a valuable service for countering regime propaganda and false narratives. The position of Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues has been vacant since January 2017, 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 ).
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- Pub. L. 108-333
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