Bipartisan bill to reauthorize North Korean Human Rights Act led by Kim

U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) recently proposed the bipartisan North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2022, which would renew existing federal law promoting human rights and freedom in North Korea.

“As an immigrant from South Korea with family members who fled North Korea, supporting the North Korean people is personal to me,” Rep. Kim said. “I’m proud to lead the charge to ensure the U.S. promotes human rights for the people of North Korea and continues to be a beacon for hope, freedom and democracy.”

If enacted, H.R. 7332 would reauthorize, update and improve the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. Rep. Kim on March 31 sponsored H.R. 7332 with three original cosponsors, including U.S. Reps. Michelle Steel (R-CA) and Ami Bera (D-CA).

Specifically, the bill states that Congress finds: “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 the text of the proposed bill.

“Kim Jong-un continues to oppress the North Korean people through torture, imprisonment, forced labor, and starvation in his quest to expand North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and gain military power,” said Rep. Kim. “These gross human rights abuses cannot be tolerated.”

Additionally, H.R. 7332 says that 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 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 text of the bill states.

It would be the sense of Congress, according to the bill, that promoting information access in North Korea continues to be a successful method of countering DPRK propaganda. The bill calls on the United States government to continue to support non-governmental radio broadcasting to North Korea and promote other emerging methods in this space.

The U.S. government also should urge the government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately halt its forcible repatriation of North Koreans who would face persecution or torture upon return, and allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees unimpeded access to North Koreans inside China to determine whether they are refugees and whether they require assistance, among other provisions in the bill.

The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea supports the measure, which has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.