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North Korean Refugee Adoption Act

A reader writes in to ask for your support on a piece of pending legislation and asks for your support at the petition link below.  This legislation is similar to efforts that Sam Brownback had been pushing for years, so please give it a read.

I know your blog is very active about matters related to North Korea, so I’m seeking your support for a cause I’m very passionate about, the passage of the North Korean Refugee Adoption Act (H.R. 1464 and S. 416) which would make it easier to adopt refugee children and help reduce the waiting time for adopting refugee children. Mass support is crucial in encouraging members of Congress to pass this bill.

The North Korean Refugee Adoption Act, if passed, would allow Americans to adopt refugee orphans who have fled the repressive regime in North Korea to neighboring countries such as Mongolia, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries. Despite having already left North Korea, these children still struggle in harsh circumstances, and run the risk of being sent back. According to the World Food Program, North Korea faces regular food shortages, and one in three North Korean children under five are chronically malnourished.   Troubling statistics about North Korea and its refugees:

– Nearly 300,000 people have fled North Korea, one of the most isolated and dangerous countries in the world.
– Population: 22.7 million.
– More than 1 million North Koreans perished in a devastating famine in the mid-1990s.
– 33 percent of the population is undernourished.
– 37 percent of children are stunted, 23 percent are underweight and 7 percent are wasted away.
– Up to 200,000 are unjustly imprisoned in Soviet style gulags.
– Prisoners in these camps experience extreme abuse, torture, rape, forced abortions and even executions.
– More than 400,000 have died in these political prison camps.
– Up to 300,000 refugees are hiding in neighboring countries.Approximately 80 percent of North Korean refugees in escaping countries are women.
– Of these women, 70 to 90 percent end up sexually trafficked, sold repeatedly or forced into marriages.
– These women can be bought from anywhere from a few hundred U.S., dollars up to a few thousand.One in five children had diarrhea, and one in eight showed symptoms of acute respiratory infection. For two years, mothers appear to have made no progress, a third were anemic and malnourished.
PLEASE visit http://thinkchildren.org/sign-the-petition/ and sign the petition. It takes ten seconds but it could mean the world, literally, to a child in need. As the link nears its expiration on July 30, we need quick action now more than ever. Please spread the word and help support a worthy cause. Thank you so much.
One small caveat is that the figure of 300,000 refugees is much higher than other recent estimates I’ve seen, but is in accord with figures that were circulating at around 2000, near the end of the Great Famine.  In truth, we don’t really even know the population of North Korea.  Everything is speculative and suspect, and that just hints at the many obstacles that stand between North Korea’s expendable children and the many families here that could give them good homes.

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