Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1273 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1273
5	5	To direct the Secretary of State to establish a national registry of Korean
6	6	American divided families, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	FEBRUARY12, 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	UBRAMANYAM (for himself, Mrs. KIM, Mr. CONNOLLY, and Ms.
11	11	M
12	12	ALLIOTAKIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
13	13	Committee on Foreign Affairs
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To direct the Secretary of State to establish a national
16	16	registry of Korean American divided families, and for
17	17	other purposes.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Korean American Di-4
22	22	vided Families National Registry Act’’. 5
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25	25	•HR 1273 IH
26	26	SEC. 2. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF KOREAN AMERICAN DI-1
27	27	VIDED FAMILIES. 2
28	28	The Secretary of State, acting through the Special 3
29	29	Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues or such 4
30	30	other individual as the Secretary may designate, shall— 5
31	31	(1) collate information on Korean American 6
32	32	families who wish to be reunited with family mem-7
33	33	bers in North Korea from which such Korean Amer-8
34	34	ican families were divided after the signing of the 9
35	35	Agreement Concerning a Military Armistice in 10
36	36	Korea, signed at Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (com-11
37	37	monly referred to as the ‘‘Korean War Armistice 12
38	38	Agreement’’), in anticipation of future reunions for 13
39	39	such families and family members, including in-per-14
40	40	son and video reunions; and 15
41	41	(2) establish a private internal national registry 16
42	42	of the names and other relevant information of such 17
43	43	Korean American families— 18
44	44	(A) to host such future reunions in South 19
45	45	Korea, the United States, or third countries; 20
46	46	and 21
47	47	(B) to provide for a private internal reposi-22
48	48	tory of information about such Korean Amer-23
49	49	ican families and family members in North 24
50	50	Korea, including information about individuals 25
51	51	who may be deceased. 26
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54	54	•HR 1273 IH
55	55	SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE 1
56	56	UNITED STATES AND NORTH KOREA. 2
57	57	(a) I
58	58	NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall take 3
59	59	such actions as may be necessary to ensure that any direct 4
60	60	dialogue between the United States and North Korea in-5
61	61	cludes progress towards holding future reunions for Ko-6
62	62	rean American families and their family members in North 7
63	63	Korea as described in section 2. 8
64	64	(b) C
65	65	ONSULTATIONS.—The Secretary of State shall 9
66	66	consult with the Government of the Republic of Korea in 10
67	67	carrying out this section. 11
68	68	(c) R
69	69	EPORT.—No later than one year after enact-12
70	70	ment of this Act, and annually thereafter for 5 years, the 13
71	71	Secretary of State shall submit to the appropriate congres-14
72	72	sional committees a report on— 15
73	73	(1) the status of the national registry estab-16
74	74	lished pursuant to section 2(a)(2); 17
75	75	(2) the number of individuals included on the 18
76	76	registry who— 19
77	77	(A) have met their family members in 20
78	78	North Korea during previous reunions; and 21
79	79	(B) have yet to meet their family members 22
80	80	in North Korea during previous reunions; 23
81	81	(3) a summary of responses by North Korea to 24
82	82	requests to hold reunions of divided families; and 25
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85	85	•HR 1273 IH
86	86	(4) a description of regulations in North Korea 1
87	87	and actions taken by North Korea in the year pre-2
88	88	vious to submission of each report that prevent the 3
89	89	emigration of family members of Korean American 4
90	90	families. 5
91	91	(d) A
92	92	PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 6
93	93	D
94	94	EFINED.—In this Act, ‘‘appropriate congressional com-7
95	95	mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 8
96	96	House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign 9
97	97	Relations of the Senate. 10
98	98	Æ
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