U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) on Feb. 14 led a bipartisan resolution calling on the United States and North Korea to reunite Korean Americans with the families they were separated from during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
“We must continue our momentum to reunite Korean Americans with their war-torn loved ones in North Korea before it’s too late,” the congresswoman said on Tuesday. “I am proud to lead this bipartisan resolution to demonstrate united support for making long-overdue reunifications for so many a reality.”
House Resolution (H.Res.) 126, which Rep. Kim sponsored, would call on the United States and North Korea to begin the process of reuniting Korean-American divided family members with their immediate relatives via a variety of ways, such as identifying those in both countries who are willing and able to participate in a pilot program for family reunions, and finding matches for members of such families through organizations such as the Red Cross.
Other ways would be to work with South Korea’s government to include American citizens in inter-Korean video reunions; reaffirm the institution of family as inalienable and, accordingly, urge the restoration of contact between divided families physically, literarily, or virtually; and to pursue reunions as a humanitarian priority of immediate concern, the text of the resolution says.
Among the members who signed on as original cosponsors of the resolution are U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Michelle Steel (R-CA), and Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA).
“Far too many Korean American families have known the heartache of being separated from their loved ones on the divided Korean Peninsula,” Rep. Steel tweeted on Feb. 15. “Proud to join @RepYoungKim to introduce this legislation to reunite these families.”
“Institutionalized family separation is a traumatizing event that reverberates across generations, histories, and countries,” added Rep. Kamlager-Dove. “An entire generation has passed since an estimated 100,000 Korean Americans have seen or heard from their loved ones in North Korea. Korean Americans have largely been left out of the process of reunification. We need to work to bring these families back together.”
The Korean American Grassroots Conference endorsed the resolution, which is under consideration in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee.
