"Time Is Limited" North American Separated Families Accelerate Reunion Efforts

US House Foreign Affairs Committee Passes North Korea-US Family Reunification Bill and Resolution
Support from Korean-American Representatives Young Kim, Andy Kim, and Others

Rep. Young Kim [Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously passed a bipartisan bill and resolution supporting reunions for Korean American separated families scattered across North Korea.

According to the Korean American Grassroots Coalition (KAGC) on the 21st (local time), the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed the Korean American Separated Families Reunion Bill (H.R.826), introduced by Democratic Representative Grace Meng and Republican Representative Van Taylor.

The bill requires the State Department to investigate Korean American separated families in the U.S. and submit the findings to the House and Senate Foreign Affairs Committees.

The bill, co-sponsored by Korean American lawmakers Andy Kim, Marilyn Strickland, Young Kim, and Michelle Steel, had passed the House floor in the previous session but failed to clear the Senate, prompting renewed efforts.

Representative Young Kim (pictured), a co-sponsor of the bill, said ahead of the vote, "I hope the bill passes so that thousands of separated families can reunite with their loved ones left in North Korea. They do not have much time left."

The resolution urging North Korea-U.S. separated families reunions, introduced by Democratic Representative Karen Bass and Representative Young Kim, which also passed that day, calls on the U.S. government to cooperate with the Red Cross and the South Korean government to identify separated families eligible to participate in a pilot program for reunions between North Korean and American separated families.

Representative Bass emphasized during the meeting that despite diplomatic engagements such as the North Korea-U.S. summits, the two countries have failed to establish an official channel for family reunions, and through this resolution, the U.S. and North Korea must take action to promote family reunions. She also suggested that the South Korean government could consider including Korean Americans in virtual reunions between separated families from the North and South.

For the North Korea-U.S. separated families reunion bill passed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee to take effect, it must pass both the House and Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden.

Song Won-seok, Secretary General of KAGC, stated, "With the passage of the bill and resolution today, we are closer to legislative success to end the pain of separated families," and emphasized, "We must unite and work harder to succeed in the remaining legislative process."