II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 555
To direct the Secretary of State to establish a national registry of Korean
American divided families, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY12, 2025
Mr. K
AINE(for himself, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. COONS, Mr. KELLY, and Mr.
R
ICKETTS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
A BILL
To direct the Secretary of State to establish a national
registry of Korean American divided families, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Korean American Di-4
vided Families National Registry Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. NATIONAL REGISTRY OF KOREAN AMERICAN DI-6
VIDED FAMILIES. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State, acting 8
through the Special Envoy on North Korean Human 9
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•S 555 IS
Rights Issues, the Assistant Secretary of State for Con-1
sular Affairs, or such other individual as the Secretary 2
may designate, shall— 3
(1) identify Korean American families who wish 4
to be reunited with family members residing in 5
North Korea from which such Korean American 6
families were divided after the signing of the Agree-7
ment Concerning a Military Armistice in Korea, 8
signed at Panmunjom July 27, 1953 (commonly re-9
ferred to as the ‘‘Korean War Armistice Agree-10
ment’’), in anticipation of future reunions for such 11
families and family members, including in-person 12
and video reunions; and 13
(2) establish a national registry of the names 14
and other relevant information of such Korean 15
American families— 16
(A) to facilitate such future reunions; and 17
(B) to provide for a repository of informa-18
tion about such Korean American families and 19
family members in North Korea, including in-20
formation about individuals who may be de-21
ceased. 22
(b) A
UTHORIZATION OFAPPROPRIATIONS.—There is 23
authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of State 24
$1,000,000 to carry out this section. 25
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•S 555 IS
SEC. 3. ACTIONS TO FACILITATE DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE 1
UNITED STATES AND NORTH KOREA. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of State should 3
take such actions as may be necessary to ensure that any 4
direct dialogue between the United States and North 5
Korea includes progress towards holding future reunions 6
for Korean American families and their family members 7
in North Korea. 8
(b) C
ONSULTATIONS.—The Secretary of State should 9
consult with the Government of the Republic of Korea, 10
as appropriate, in carrying out this section. 11
(c) R
EPORTINGREQUIREMENT.— 12
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, act-13
ing through the Special Envoy on North Korean 14
Human Rights Issues, shall include in each report 15
required under section 107(d) of the North Korean 16
Human Rights Act of 2004 (22 U.S.C. 7817(d)) a 17
description of the consultations described in sub-18
section (b) conducted during the year preceding the 19
submission of the report. 20
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The reporting required under 21
paragraph (1) should include— 22
(A) the status of the national registry es-23
tablished pursuant to section 2(a)(2); 24
(B) the number of individuals included on 25
the registry who— 26
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•S 555 IS
(i) have met their family members in 1
North Korea during previous reunions; and 2
(ii) have yet to meet their family 3
members in North Korea during previous 4
reunions; 5
(C) a summary of responses by North 6
Korea to requests to hold reunions of divided 7
families; and 8
(D) a description of actions taken by 9
North Korea that prevent the emigration of 10
family members of Korean American families. 11
(d) A
PPROPRIATECONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES 12
D
EFINED.—In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate congres-13
sional committees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Re-14
lations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Af-15
fairs of the House of Representatives. 16
Æ
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