{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400798", "Congressional Hearing to Explore How to Protect North Korean Defectors", "2017-12-11", "2017", "2017-12", "Republican", "House", "NJ", "Christopher Smith", "S000522", "chrissmith.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "On Tuesday, December 12, at 2 p.m., the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations will hold a hearing on \u201cProtecting North Korean Refugees,\u201d to examine what more the U.S. can do to push China to protect North Korean defectors and grant them international protection.\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u201cAs the Congress continues to look at ways to best apply maximum diplomatic and financial press on the regime of Kim Jong-un, this hearing will explore the strategic relevance of further pressing the Chinese government to protect North Korean refugees and evaluate the impact of surging outside information into North Korea,\u201d Smith said.\r\n\u00a0\r\nWho:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chairman Smith (NJ-04), Senior Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations; other members of the Committee\r\n\u00a0\r\nWitnesses:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0  Panel I\r\n\u00a0\r\nMs. Hyeona Ji  \r\nNorth Korean Defector  \r\nCo-Chairperson  \r\nWorldwide Coalition to Stop Genocide in North Korea\r\nMs. Han Ga Hee (alias)  \r\nNorth Korean Defector  \r\nAnnouncer and Sound Engineer  \r\nFree North Korea Radio\r\n\u00a0\r\nPanel II\r\n\u00a0\r\nMr. Greg Scarlatoiu  \r\nExecutive Director  \r\nThe Committee for Human Rights in North Korea\r\n\u00a0\r\nThe Honorable Robert King  \r\nSenior Adviser, Korea Chair  \r\nCenter for Strategic and International Studies  \r\nFormer U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues\r\n\u00a0\r\nMs. Suzanne Scholte  \r\nPresident  \r\nDefense Forum Foundation  \r\nChairwoman  \r\nNorth Korea Freedom Coalition\r\n\u00a0\r\nWhat:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 House hearing on protecting North Korean defectors\r\n\u00a0\r\nWhen:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tuesday, December 12, 2017 2:00 PM\r\n\u00a0\r\nWhere:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2200 (second floor)\r\n\u00a0\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 In July and August of 2017, 41 people fleeing human rights abuses in North Korea were detained in China, the group Human Rights Watch reported. This continues a decades-long trend of China detaining North Koreans fleeing the dictatorship and repatriating them, where they face the prospect of severe punishment by the state, when they should instead be granted protection as refugees.  \r\n\u00a0 \u00a0   \r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 North Korea is known as one of the worst human rights abusers. In 2014, a report by the UN Commission on Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea found that \u201csystematic, widespread and gross human rights violations\u201d had been committed by the dictatorship, and that \u201cin many instances, the violations found entailed crimes against humanity based on State policies.\u201d  \r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 These abuses, the UN Commission found, included \u201cextermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.\u201d \u00a0 \u00a0 \u201cThis hearing will explore the current situation facing North Korean asylum seekers and assess both China\u2019s obligation to protect refugees and global efforts to stop what the UN Commission on Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea called crimes against humanity experienced by refugees,\u201d\u00a0Smith, Chairman of the subcommittee, stated.  \r\n\r\n\u00a0 \u00a0 North Korean citizens caught leaving the country illegally could face severe punishment including interrogation, torture, and a sentence in the country\u2019s forced labor camp system. Yet among those who do escape the abuses of the Kim Jong-un regime, China has maintained a \u201crigorous policy of forcibly repatriating citizens of the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea who cross the border illegally,\u201d the UN Commission report said, despite the fact that these people should be treated as refugees and given \u201cinternational protection.\u201d", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://chrissmith.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=400798"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.750430092215538, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}