WASHINGTON (Yonhap) ― A group of U.S. senators has introduced a resolution calling for family reunions between Korean-Americans and their long-lost relatives in North Korea, according to a diplomatic source and Congressional data Sunday.
Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) and Mark Warner (D-Virginia) submitted the “resolution encouraging reunions of Korean-Americans who were divided by the Korean War from their relatives in North Korea” to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday, the source said.
The website of Congress also showed the resolution (S.RES.587) was introduced, but no text is currently available.
The resolution follows a similar one introduced in the House of Representatives on March 6 by Reps. Charles Rangle (D-New York), John Conyers (D-Minnesota), Sam Johnson (R-Texas) and Howard Coble (R-North Caroling). The number of co-sponsors of the resolution has since risen to 51.
The House resolution said that the number of more than 100,000 estimated divided family members in the United States last identified in 2001 has been significantly dwindling as many of them have passed away and many Korean-Americans are waiting for a chance to meet their relatives in North Korea for the first time in more than 60 years.
It also said that the U.S. currently does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, thereby excluding Korean-Americans from participating in family reunions that the two Koreas have held from time to time. It urged Pyongyang to allow Korean-Americans to meet with their divided families in the communist nation.
“North Korea’s willingness to start family reunions between Koreans in North Korea and the United States would signify making progress on the humanitarian front and foster dialogue towards building peace,” the resolution said.
Chances of the two resolutions passing through Congress in its current session are not high. But if such resolutions are introduced again in the incoming Congress opening next year, they are believed to have a higher chance of passage, diplomatic sources said.
