Chris Smith: “I want to rise and really pay tribute to the leadership of the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) in bringing this…”

“I want to rise and really pay tribute to the leadership of the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) in bringing this legislation not just to the floor today, but to what will be its ultimate enactment into law. I thank the gentleman for his leadership on human rights in North Korea, as well as human rights in the Asian Pacific region. The gentleman has been a stalwart and a real leader, and this is just another important product of that work; and I, and I know many others, are very grateful for his leadership. This bill is the culmination of a concerted bipartisan effort to act against the unspeakable cruelties occurring under the Kim Jong Il regime. Madam Speaker, since the mid-1990s, as many as 2 million North Koreans have died because of failed North Korean economic policies. Despite the loss of nearly 10 percent of the country's population to a man-made famine, Kim Jong Il's regime uses food as a weapon to control its population by rewarding loyalty and withholding food from enemies of the regime.”