A resolution is being promoted in the Federal Congress calling for the U.S. government to act together with partner countries to resolve human rights issues such as forced labor, detention, human trafficking, and forced repatriation of North Korean defectors in China.
Congresswoman Michelle Park (Republican, California) said on the 15th, “China and North Korea are making aggressive efforts to find, detain, and forcibly repatriate North Korean defectors to North Korea, including offering bounties for information on North Korean defectors in China.”
A resolution was submitted. Referring to a past UN Commission of Inquiry report on human rights in North Korea, he pointed out, “North Korea imposes punishment, including the death penalty, for crimes such as attempting to defect from North Korea, slandering the party, listening to foreign broadcasts, possessing reactionary literature, and holding religious beliefs.” He continued, “80% of those who escape North Korea and apply for asylum are women and girls. They are vulnerable to human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labor, and forced marriage. “You can do it,” he emphasized.
In the resolution, Rep. Park urged the President, the Secretary of State, etc. to:
▲ Protect the government’s protection of North Korean defectors at the bilateral and multilateral level
▲ Fulfill China’s obligations under international treaties such as the Refugee Convention
▲ Raise the issue of China and other countries’ responsibility for the forced deportation of North Korean defectors and human trafficking issues
▲ North Korea’s nuclear program Pursuing an end to North Korean defector labor in China where funds are diverted to programs
▲ Called for measures to be taken, such as implementing a ban on imports of products produced by North Korean defector workers in China into the United States.