As tensions continue to mount between the U.S. and North Korea, two congressional representatives from Florida have brought out the “North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act” as they look to hold that communist nation’s leadership accountable.
Florida Republicans U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Ted Yoho teamed up with U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-NY, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., to unveil the measure at the end of last week. The proposal extends the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, which Ros-Lehtinen has championed during her long tenure in Congress, which “continues current authorities for North Korea-focused activities to promote human rights and democracy, refugee protection, and freedom of information (including broadcasting), as well as the U.S. Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues" and “continues reporting aimed at increasing transparency and accountability for any food aid provided to North Korea.”
Ros-Lehtinen currently chairs the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee and she is the first woman to have ever led the Foreign Affairs Committee. Yoho chairs the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee with Sherman as the ranking Democrat.
On Friday, Ros-Lehtinen made her case for the bill.
“Under Kim Jong Un’s brutal regime, North Koreans continue to be exploited and trafficked in the regime’s harsh labor system while dissidents are sent to work camps and subjected to starvation and torture,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “Without rule of law, justice, or freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly, North Koreans live in constant fear of arrest, disappearance, and execution. As the Kim regime’s dangerous behavior increases, it is also essential that we promote North Korean human rights as an integral part of addressing the North Korean security threat. Instead of seeking to promote the well-being of its citizens, the regime in Pyongyang pours all of its available resources into illicit activity like its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation alongside Eliot, Ted, and Brad, which seeks to strengthen ongoing efforts to promote human rights in North Korea, provide desperately needed information to those inside, and protect refugees fleeing the regime.”
“The Kim Regime in North Korea gives us no shortage of concerns, from its pursuit of illegal nuclear and conventional weapons, including ballistic missiles, to the alleged use of banned chemical weapons in a major regional airport,” Engel said. “But we should never lose sight of another major problem: the Kim regime’s crimes against the rights and dignity of their own people. The people of North Korea have suffered immeasurably under the oppression of the Kim family. This measure, which authorizes support for North Korean refugees, would send a signal to all the people of North Korea that we see their suffering and our doors are open.”
The bill was sent to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Tensions continue to flare between North Korea and the U.S. after the Kim regime’s latest round of missile tests. Over the weekend, the Navy ordered the Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the Korean peninsula.
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