Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1841 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. 1841
5	5	To review current restrictions on travel to North Korea, call for a formal
6	6	end to the Korean War, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH4, 2025
9	9	Mr. S
10	10	HERMAN(for himself, Mr. BIGGSof Arizona, Ms. CHU, Mr. MIN, Mr.
11	11	M
12	12	OYLAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. AMO, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. CASAR, Mr. CAR-
13	13	SON, Mr. CORREA, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. FROST,
14	14	Mr. G
15	15	ARCI´Aof Illinois, Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. GREENof Texas, Mr. GRI-
16	16	JALVA, Mr. JACKSONof Illinois, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE,
17	17	Mr. K
18	18	HANNA, Mr. LEVIN, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. OMAR,
19	19	Ms. P
20	20	INGREE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. TAKANO, Ms.
21	21	T
22	22	ITUS, Mr. TONKO, Mr. TRAN, and Mr. VARGAS) introduced the fol-
23	23	lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL
24	24	To review current restrictions on travel to North Korea,
25	25	call for a formal end to the Korean War, and for other
26	26	purposes.
27	27	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
28	28	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
29	29	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
30	30	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Peace on the Korean 4
31	31	Peninsula Act’’. 5
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34	34	•HR 1841 IH
35	35	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 1
36	36	Congress makes the following findings: 2
37	37	(1) On July 27, 1953, the commander in chief 3
38	38	of the United Nations Command signed an armistice 4
39	39	agreement with the supreme commander of the 5
40	40	North Korean People’s Army and the commander of 6
41	41	the Chinese People’s Volunteers, aiming to ‘‘insure 7
42	42	a complete cessation of hostilities and of all acts of 8
43	43	armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settle-9
44	44	ment is achieved’’. 10
45	45	(2) The armistice agreement neither formally 11
46	46	ended the war nor represented a final peaceful set-12
47	47	tlement. 13
48	48	(3) On April 27, 2018, in Panmunjom, the 14
49	49	leaders of South Korea and North Korea declared 15
50	50	that ‘‘a new era of peace has begun on the Korean 16
51	51	peninsula’’, and committed ‘‘to declare the end of 17
52	52	war’’ on the Korean peninsula 65 years after the 18
53	53	signing of the armistice agreement. 19
54	54	(4) In its roll out of its policy towards North 20
55	55	Korea, the Biden Administration expressed support 21
56	56	for the Singapore framework, which identifies peace 22
57	57	on the Korean peninsula as an objective of any fu-23
58	58	ture negotiations between the United States and 24
59	59	North Korea. 25
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62	62	•HR 1841 IH
63	63	(5) The United States should pursue a sus-1
64	64	tained and credible diplomatic process to achieve an 2
65	65	end to the Korean war, and every effort should be 3
66	66	made to avoid military confrontation with North 4
67	67	Korea. 5
68	68	(6) The persistence of a state of war does not 6
69	69	serve the national interest of the United States and 7
70	70	its allies. 8
71	71	(7) One major consequence of the continuation 9
72	72	of the Korean war is that the United States does not 10
73	73	have formal relations with North Korea, which has 11
74	74	prevented Korean Americans with relatives in North 12
75	75	Korea from seeing their families. 13
76	76	(8) Approximately 100,000 Americans have rel-14
77	77	atives living in North Korea. 15
78	78	(9) At the Hanoi Summit in February 2019, 16
79	79	the United States and North Korea discussed for-17
80	80	mally ending the Korean war and the exchange of 18
81	81	diplomatic liaison offices, however these discussions 19
82	82	did not advance due to a stalemate on nuclear and 20
83	83	missile issues. 21
84	84	(10) The ongoing nuclear- and ballistic-missile- 22
85	85	related activities of North Korea continue to pose a 23
86	86	threat to international peace and security. 24
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89	89	•HR 1841 IH
90	90	SEC. 3. HUMANITARIAN CONSIDERATIONS REGARDING VIS-1
91	91	ITING NORTH KOREA. 2
92	92	(a) S
93	93	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-3
94	94	gress that the current restrictions barring United States 4
95	95	nationals traveling to the Democratic People’s Republic of 5
96	96	Korea (DPRK) warrant review by the Secretary of State. 6
97	97	(b) R
98	98	EVIEW.—The Secretary of State shall conduct 7
99	99	a full review of the restrictions in place conditioning the 8
100	100	travel of United States nationals to the DPRK. Such re-9
101	101	view shall include consideration of the following: 10
102	102	(1) The Department of State’s guidance as to 11
103	103	the nature of travel to the DPRK that qualifies as 12
104	104	‘‘in the national interest’’ of the United States, in-13
105	105	cluding whether the scope of travel qualifying as 14
106	106	such should be adjusted. 15
107	107	(2) The ‘‘compelling humanitarian consider-16
108	108	ations’’ that qualify a United States national for 17
109	109	travel to the DPRK, including whether the scope of 18
110	110	travel permissible under such considerations should 19
111	111	be adjusted. 20
112	112	(3) Whether, and if so, to what extent and 21
113	113	under what conditions, travel to the DPRK for the 22
114	114	purposes of attending to or witnessing funerals, bur-23
115	115	ials, or other religious and family commemorations 24
116	116	of relatives of United States nationals in the DPRK 25
117	117	does or should qualify as ‘‘compelling humanitarian 26
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120	120	•HR 1841 IH
121	121	considerations’’ meriting issuance of Special Valida-1
122	122	tion Passports to such nationals. 2
123	123	(c) R
124	124	EPORT.— 3
125	125	(1) I
126	126	N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 4
127	127	after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-5
128	128	retary of State shall submit to the Committee on 6
129	129	Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and 7
130	130	the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 8
131	131	a report detailing the review conducted under sub-9
132	132	section (b). Such report shall include a comprehen-10
133	133	sive description of the Department of State’s consid-11
134	134	eration of all matters described in paragraphs (1), 12
135	135	(2), and (3) of such subsection, including, as appli-13
136	136	cable, any related policy changes and the rationale 14
137	137	behind the Department’s decision to make or refrain 15
138	138	from making policy changes relating to such mat-16
139	139	ters. 17
140	140	(2) F
141	141	ORM.—The report required under para-18
142	142	graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 19
143	143	may contain a classified annex. 20
144	144	SEC. 4. CALLING FOR A FORMAL END TO THE KOREAN 21
145	145	WAR. 22
146	146	(a) S
147	147	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-23
148	148	gress that given the commitment of the leaders of South 24
149	149	Korea and North Korea in Panmunjom on April 27, 2018, 25
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152	152	•HR 1841 IH
153	153	to actively promote meetings involving the United States 1
154	154	‘‘with a view to replacing the Armistice Agreement with 2
155	155	a peace agreement and establishing a permanent and solid 3
156	156	peace regime’’, the Secretary of State should pursue seri-4
157	157	ous, urgent diplomatic engagement with North Korea and 5
158	158	South Korea in pursuit of a binding peace agreement con-6
159	159	stituting a formal and final end to the state of war be-7
160	160	tween North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. 8
161	161	(b) R
162	162	EPORT.— 9
163	163	(1) I
164	164	N GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 10
165	165	after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec-11
166	166	retary of State shall submit to the Committee on 12
167	167	Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and 13
168	168	the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate 14
169	169	a report that describes a clear roadmap for achieving 15
170	170	a permanent peace agreement on the Korean penin-16
171	171	sula. 17
172	172	(2) C
173	173	ONTENTS.—The report required under 18
174	174	paragraph (1) shall— 19
175	175	(A) contain an accounting of the steps nec-20
176	176	essary to enter into negotiations with North 21
177	177	Korea and South Korea to conclude a binding 22
178	178	peace agreement; 23
179	179	(B) identify the key stakeholders involved 24
180	180	in such negotiations; and 25
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183	183	•HR 1841 IH
184	184	(C) describe the challenges concerning the 1
185	185	ability of the United States to achieve a binding 2
186	186	peace agreement constituting a formal and final 3
187	187	end to the state of war between North Korea, 4
188	188	South Korea, and the United States. 5
189	189	(3) F
190	190	ORM.—The report required under para-6
191	191	graph (1) shall be submitted in unclassified form but 7
192	192	may contain a classified annex. 8
193	193	SEC. 5. ESTABLISHING LIAISON OFFICES. 9
194	194	It is the sense of Congress that given the joint state-10
195	195	ment signed by the United States and North Korea in 11
196	196	Singapore on June 12, 2018, which included an agreement 12
197	197	to ‘‘establish new U.S.-DPRK relations in accordance with 13
198	198	the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace 14
199	199	and prosperity’’, the Secretary of State should seek to 15
200	200	enter into negotiations with the Democratic People’s Re-16
201	201	public of North Korea (DPRK) to establish liaison offices 17
202	202	of the DPRK and the United States in the respective cap-18
203	203	itals of each such country. 19
204	204	SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 20
205	205	Nothing in this Act may be construed to affect the 21
206	206	status of United States Armed Forces stationed in South 22
207	207	Korea or any other foreign country. 23
208	208	Æ
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