6 H.L.C. Whereas despite the efforts of the Japanese Government, the Pyongyang regime continues to deny any knowledge of the abductions of Mr. Yutaka Kume, Mr. Minoru Tanaka, and Ms. Miyoshi Soga, the mother of another acknowledged abductee, despite overwhelming evidence of North Korean collusion in their disappearances; Whereas North Korean abductions have not been limited to northeast Asia and many documented abductees have been kidnapped while abroad, such as Mr. Lee Chaehwan, a young MIT graduate student traveling in Austria, and Mr. Ko Sang-moon, a South Korean teacher kidnapped in Norway, making the issue of serious concern to the international community; Whereas there have been credible reports that North Korea may have abducted citizens from many other countries in addition to South Korea and Japan, including persons from China, Europe, and the Middle East; Whereas North Korea routinely engaged in the kidnapping of South Korean citizens during the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, and, according to a 1956 survey conducted by the Korean National Red Cross, 7,034 South Korean civilians were abducted during the conflict; Whereas Pyongyang has refused to allow the release of a single wartime abductee despite a provision allowing civilian abductees to return home in Article III of the Korean War Armistice Agreement, a document signed by representatives from the United States, North Korea, and China; Whereas for more than fifty years, North Korea has held South Korean prisoners-of-war captured during the Korean War, in clear violation of Article III of the Korean 7 H.L.C. War Armistice Agreement signed on July 27, 1953, and the South Korean Ministry of National Defense estimates that 542 captives are still alive in North Korea, according to testimony given before the National Assembly in February 2005; Whereas according to the testimony of prisoners-of-war who have successfully escaped from North Korea, South Korean prisoners-of-war have been forced to perform hard labor for decades, often in mines, and are harshly treated by the Pyongyang regime; Whereas after being forcibly held in North Korea for fiftyone years, South Korean prisoner-of-war Han Man-taek, age 72, escaped to China, was detained by Chinese police and forcibly repatriated to North Korea earlier this year, where he inevitably faced punitive measures and possible execution; and Whereas these South Korean prisoners-of-war served under the United Nations Command, fighting alongside their American and Allied fellow soldiers, and therefore are the direct concern of the Allied nations who contributed forces during the Korean War: Now, therefore, be it 1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 2 concurring), That Congress— (1) condemns the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the abduction and continued captivity of citizens of the Republic of Korea and Japan as acts of terrorism and gross vio 3 4 5 6 H.L.C. (2) calls upon the North Korean Government to immediately cease and desist from carrying out ab ductions, release all victims of kidnapping and pris- (4) calls upon the United States Government not to remove the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from the Department of State's list of State Sponsors of Terrorism until such time that North Korea renounces state-sponsored kidnapping and provides a full accounting of all abduction cases; and (5) admonishes the Government of the People's Republic of China for the forced repatriation to North Korea of Han Man-taek, a South Korean prisoner-of-war and comrade-in-arms of the United States, and for its failure to exercise sovereign con trol over teams of North Korean agents operating freely within its borders. IV 109TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 168 Condemning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the abductions and continued captivity of citizens of the Republic of Korea and Japan as acts of terrorism and gross violations of human rights. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 26, 2005 Mr. HYDE (for himself, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. PITTS, Mr. LYNCH, and Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Condemning the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the abductions and continued captivity of citizens of the Republic of Korea and Japan as acts of terrorism and gross violations of human rights. Whereas since the end of the Korean War, the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has kidnapped thousands of South Korean citizens and as many as a hundred Japanese citizens, including Rumiko Masumoto, Megumi Yokota, and Reverend Kim Dongshik; Whereas the forced detention and frequent murder of those individuals abducted by North Korea have caused untold grief and suffering to their families; 2 Whereas on September 17, 2002, after considerable pressure from the Government of Japan, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il admitted that agents of his government had abducted thirteen Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s and assured Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi that this would never happen again; Whereas despite assurances to the contrary, North Korea continues to order and carry out abductions, and, as recently as August 8, 2004, North Korean agents operating along the Chinese border kidnapped Ms. Jin Kyung-sook, a former North Korean refugee and South Korean passport-holder; Whereas the abduction policy of North Korea has been integral to its espionage and terrorist activities, and abductees have been kidnapped to work as spies, to train North Korean agents in language, accents, and culture, and to steal identities, as in the case of Mr. Tadaaki Hara; Whereas the Pyongyang regime used abductee Ms. Yaeko Taguchi as the Japanese language instructor for North Whereas many victims of North Korean abduction have been seized during terrorist attacks, as in the hijacking of South Korean planes in 1958 and 1969, and, decades later, Pyongyang continues to hold twelve passengers of a hijacked Korean Air flight, including passenger Mr. Chang Ji-young and flight attendant Ms. Song Kyong-hi, who has since been allowed a brief visit by her South Korean family; |