ID :
20935
Wed, 09/24/2008 - 09:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/20935
The shortlink copeid
(LEAD) Congress passes N. Korean Rights Act to fund defectors' settlement
(ATTN: UPDATES with House approving N. Korean Rights Act, other details throughout)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Congress Tuesday approved legislation to
finance for the coming four years efforts to help North Korean defectors settle
in the U.S. and promote democracy in the reclusive communist state.
The North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act cleared the House of
Representatives late Tuesday just three days before the current congressional
session ends Friday, paving the way for President George W. Bush to sign it into
law in the coming days. The Senate passed the bill Monday.
The extension of the North Korean Human Rights Act, which expires later this
month after a four-year run, calls for "activities to support human rights and
democracy and freedom of information in North Korea," as well as "assistance to
North Koreans who are outside North Korea" and "12-hour broadcasting to North
Korea."
The act, valid until September 2012, also calls for the special envoy on North
Korean human rights issues to be promoted to the rank of ambassador.
Under the current act, President George W. Bush appointed in 2005 Jay Lefkowitz,
a former White House aide, as the special envoy on North Korean human rights
affairs and provided financial aid to help improve North Korea's human rights and
accept North Korean defectors.
Since the act went into effect in September 2004, the U.S. has accommodated 64
North Korean defectors. In the first case of its kind, it recently granted
permanent residence to a North Korean defector who was admitted in 2006 via
Thailand.
More than 10,000 North Korean defectors have settled in South Korea since the end
of the Korean War in 1953.
Most North Korean defectors risk deportation and political persecution when
passing through China, which considers North Korean defectors to be economic
migrants rather than refugees under a bilateral agreement with its communist ally
North Korea calling for their immediate deportation.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Congress Tuesday approved legislation to
finance for the coming four years efforts to help North Korean defectors settle
in the U.S. and promote democracy in the reclusive communist state.
The North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act cleared the House of
Representatives late Tuesday just three days before the current congressional
session ends Friday, paving the way for President George W. Bush to sign it into
law in the coming days. The Senate passed the bill Monday.
The extension of the North Korean Human Rights Act, which expires later this
month after a four-year run, calls for "activities to support human rights and
democracy and freedom of information in North Korea," as well as "assistance to
North Koreans who are outside North Korea" and "12-hour broadcasting to North
Korea."
The act, valid until September 2012, also calls for the special envoy on North
Korean human rights issues to be promoted to the rank of ambassador.
Under the current act, President George W. Bush appointed in 2005 Jay Lefkowitz,
a former White House aide, as the special envoy on North Korean human rights
affairs and provided financial aid to help improve North Korea's human rights and
accept North Korean defectors.
Since the act went into effect in September 2004, the U.S. has accommodated 64
North Korean defectors. In the first case of its kind, it recently granted
permanent residence to a North Korean defector who was admitted in 2006 via
Thailand.
More than 10,000 North Korean defectors have settled in South Korea since the end
of the Korean War in 1953.
Most North Korean defectors risk deportation and political persecution when
passing through China, which considers North Korean defectors to be economic
migrants rather than refugees under a bilateral agreement with its communist ally
North Korea calling for their immediate deportation.
hdh@yna.co.kr
(END)
