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Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today applauded Senate passage of the North Korean Human Rights Act, legislation that would update and reauthorize the 2004 law promoting human rights and freedom in the country. Rubio and Cardin first introduced the legislation in May 2017.

“It is both America’s moral responsibility and in our national security interest to hold accountable the North Korean dictatorship for being one of the world’s worst human rights abusers,” said Rubio. “The Kim regime systematically and mercilessly terrorizes its own people, denying them their most basic freedoms, running extensive networks of political prisoner camps, and engaging in extrajudicial killings, abductions, arbitrary detention, arrest, torture, forced starvation, and sexual violence against women.  I applaud the Senate passage of this bill, and urge my House colleagues to expeditiously pass this bill and send it to the President’s desk for signing.”

“The North Korean people have suffered enormously for decades,” said Cardin. “As the United States and our allies and partners in the region prepare to engage Pyongyang in potential denuclearization talks, we cannot take our eyes off the deplorable human rights situation in that country. Promoting and defending human rights must always remain a core pillar of U.S. diplomacy abroad, and this bill will underscore that. I look forward to House passage so that the president can sign it into law before his possible meeting with Kim Jong un.”