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News Articles
Implementing North Korean Human Rights Act; Reps. Leach & Smith
Schedule Thursday Joint Hearing
[10.26.2005 10:11:00 AM]
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Sam Stratman of the House Committee on International
Relations, Office of Communications, 202-226-7875
News Advisory:
WHAT: Joint Oversight Hearing: Lifting the Veil: Getting the
Refugees Out, Getting Our Message In: An Update on the
Implementation of the North Korean Human Rights Act
-- Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, U.S. Rep. James A.
Leach (R-Iowa), chairman
-- Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International
Operations, U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), chairman
WHEN: 1:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 27
WHERE: Room 2172 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C.
WITNESSES: Kelu Chao, associate director for language
programming, Voice of America; Daniel Southerland, vice
president for programming, Radio Free Asia; Panel II: Ma Soon
Hee, North Korean refugee; Cha Kyeong Sook, North Korean
refugee; Kim Seung Min, director, Radio Free North Korea; and
Tim Peters, founder/director, Helping Hands Korea.
BACKGROUND: Each year, thousands of North Koreans flee to China
to escape a regime isolated by its dismal human rights record.
What many refugees encounter in China, particularly women, is
little better. Some fall prey to Chinese traffickers who force
women into prostitution and abusive "marriages," while others
are forcibly returned to North Korea where they routinely face
torture and imprisonment, and sometimes execution. The
Government of North Korea also strictly curtails access to
foreign broadcasts, considered a "crime against the revolution."
This hearing is part of an ongoing effort by the House
International Relations Committee to follow implementation of
the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. The Act requires that
human rights be a principal element in negotiations with North
Korea and other Northeast Asian states; authorizes up to $20
million annually for assistance to North Korean refugees;
asserts that North Koreans are eligible for U.S. refugee status;
instructs the State Department to facilitate the submission of
applications by North Koreans seeking protection as refugees;
and calls on the President to appoint a Special Envoy to promote
human rights in North Korea. This hearing will include the
moving testimony of two North Korean women who have personally
experienced the horrors of the trafficking abuses in China, and
will question what U.S. and international agencies, particularly
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,
are doing to assist North Korean refugees. The hearing will also
focus on private and U.S. Government efforts to transmit
uncensored radio broadcasts to the people of North Korea.
© 2005 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770
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