This week, President Donald Trump signed a law from members of the Florida delegation that holds the North Korean regime more accountable on human rights and other issues.
Back in April 2017, 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 “North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act.” Two other members of the Florida delegation--Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo and Democrat U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy--also co-sponsored the bill.
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.”
Both of the representatives from Florida are top Republicans on Capitol Hill when it comes to foreign policy. 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.
The House passed the proposal from Ros-Lehtinen and Yoho back in September without opposition. The Senate passed its version of the bill, which was introduced by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., without opposition in April.
Ros-Lehtinen weighed in on Monday after Trump signed the bill.
“With this law, Congress has sent a strong message that human rights must be an integral part of our overall security strategy toward North Korea and a significant part of the administration’s negotiations with the North Korean regime,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “I urge the president to implement fully and vigorously all aspects of this bill. The Kim regime’s repressive behavior is not only dangerous and immoral but demonstrates its untrustworthiness as a negotiating partner. This law provides essential tools to allow the administration to promote North Korean human rights and, as we have shown since the North Korean Human Rights Act was first enacted in 2004, Congress will continue to perform its necessary oversight role and ensure the law’s full implementation.”
"The North Korean people are starving for information outside of Kim Jong un’s propaganda machine," Yoho said on Monday. “To address this, the president recently signed into law the North Korea Human Rights Reauthorization Act. Contained in this new law is my bill the Distribution and Promotion of Rights and Knowledge (DPRK) Act. My bill improves America’s efforts to broadcast outside information into North Korea, weakening Kim Jong-un's regime by eroding his stranglehold on information. It will provide a light to the North Koreans; not just light to read by, but shines a light of liberty to all who are denied their freedom."
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