U.S. House panel approves bill on N. Korean human rights

A U.S. House committee passed a bill Wednesday calling for bipartisan efforts to address North Korea‘s human rights violations and bring a wave of openness to the communist society.

Less than five minutes after the beginning of a mark-up session, the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously approved the legislation on extending until 2017 the authority of the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2014 and passed it on to the entire House.

The existing act, last reauthorized in 2008, is meant to put pressure on Pyongyang on the issues of human rights, democracy, refugee protection and freedom of information. It is the legal ground for the U.S. government’s financial support for radio stations broadcasting to North Korea and the appointment of a special envoy on the North’s human rights issues.

The revision bill -- H.R. 4240 -- notes that, “Although the transition to the leadership of Kim Jong-un after the death of Kim Jong-il has introduced new uncertainties and possibilities, the fundamental human rights and humanitarian conditions inside North Korea remain deplorable and North Korean refugees remain acutely vulnerable.”

It also urges China to immediately halt its forcible repatriation of North Koreans.

“The human rights situation in North Korea -- one of the bleakest on the planet -- remains a vital concern of Congress," Rep. Howard Berman of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said.

The bill represents the continued U.S. commitment to helping the North Korean people, he added.

Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) also praised the legislation.

“Perhaps nowhere else is a focus on human rights more needed than the situation in North Korea,” said Royce. “This legislation not only brings much-needed attention to the plight of the North Korean people, but it continues to emphasize broadcasting into North Korea as a way to shatter the illusion of a workers’ paradise propagated by the state controlled media.”

In an ensuing hearing on China, meanwhile, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who chairs the committee, accused Beijing of doing nothing to stop North Korea’s threatened space launch.

She argued that China’s refusal to cooperate with sanctions on the North has contributed to its nuclear weapons program. Beijing is Pyongyang‘s largest supplier of food and energy. (Yonhap News)