Karen Bass: “I want to thank Chairman Meeks, Ranking Member McCaul, and Ranking Member Smith for bringing this important legislation…”

“I want to thank Chairman Meeks, Ranking Member McCaul, and Ranking Member Smith for bringing this important legislation encouraging reunions of divided Korean-American families to the House floor today. H. Res. 294 is a bipartisan resolution that calls on the United States and North Korea to begin the process of reuniting Korean- American divided family members with their immediate relatives by identifying the families in the U.S. and North Korea who are willing and able to participate, finding matches for members of such families through organizations such as the Red Cross, and working with the Government of South Korea to include American citizens in inter-Korean video reunions. Both Representative Kim and I have heard or know the awful stories of constituents who were divided from family members for nearly 70 years. A couple of years ago I had a constituent in my office who was quite elderly, and he was very concerned that he actually was not going to live to see his siblings that he has not been able to see for many decades. This resolution also urges the restoration of contact between the divided families physically, literarily, or virtually, and calls on the U.S. and North Korea to pursue reunions as a humanitarian priority of immediate concern. When the Korean War Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953, it was meant to be a temporary measure.…”