Washington, DC – Today, U.S. Representative Young Kim (CA-40), Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific, joined Representative Grace Meng (NY-06) and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in a bipartisan letter to President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging the administration to prioritize reunification of Korean American families ahead of South Korean President Lee’s visit to the White House.
Since the Korean War, approximately 100,000 Korean Americans have been separated from family members across the 38th parallel in North Korea. While North and South Korea have arranged more than 20 family reunions, no formal channel has been established for Korean Americans to participate. More than seven decades after the armistice, time is running out for Korean Americans to connect with their war-torn loved ones.
As one of the first Korean American women to serve in Congress, Rep. Young Kim has long championed efforts to reunite divided Korean American families, successfully working across the aisle to see the Divided Families Reunification Act signed into law as part of the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
The legislation encourages the Secretary of State to collaborate with South Korean counterparts and report to Congress on progress, aiming to create opportunities for family reunions that have been unavailable since the end of the Korean War.
The Korean American Grassroots Conference and the Council of Korean Americans support this bipartisan letter.
Read the letter HERE or below.
Across the United States, tens of thousands of members of the Korean American community are seeking to reunify with their loved ones who were separated from family as a result of the Korean War. These divided families have relatives living on both sides of the 38th parallel, marking the divide between North and South Korea. Seven decades after the armistice, the lack of reunification opportunities—or even information about the whereabouts of family members—remains a source of deep pain for many.
Congress has sought to assist divided families by engaging our diplomatic resources in reunification efforts. In 2023, the bipartisan Divided Families Reunification Act, H.R. 826, became law. Accordingly, the Secretary of State must “consult with officials of South Korea, as appropriate, on potential opportunities to reunite Korean American families with family members in North Korea.” The Secretary must also include representatives of the Korean American community in such efforts.
With South Korean President Lee’s coming visit to the White House on August 25, we believe your Administration has a golden opportunity to engage our Korean counterparts in advancing efforts to reunify divided families.
Seven decades after the armistice, time is running out. We urge you to include divided families in the conversations with South Korea as it is an issue of great importance to Korean Americans across the nation. We respectfully request a response from you prior to President Lee’s upcoming visit regarding this request, and another update immediately following the visit to better understand how we can continue supporting these families in their reunification efforts.
