WASHINGTON –-(ENEWSPF)–October 20, 2015. U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) today released the following statement after hundreds of Korean families were reunited more than 60 years after being separated during the Korean War:
“Though hundreds of Korean families were reunited this week in North Korea, the fact remains that more than 66,000 families have been divided for decades. The State Department should continue to prioritize these reunification efforts and create an official channel to assist in the reunification of Korean Americans, including 60,000 in Illinois, with their relatives in North Korea.”
BACKGROUND
In June, Senators Kirk and Mark Warner (D-Va.) introduced S. Res. 190, which urges the State Department to prioritize reunification efforts and encourages North Korea to permit reunions between Korean Americans and their relatives still living in North Korea. When Senator Kirk served in the House he worked to prioritize language in 2009 which urged the State Department to reunite families that were separated during the Korean War, and to appoint a coordinator for these families. From 2007-2010, Senator Kirk served as co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Divided Families, which documented cases of divided families and urged the North Korean government to allow them to reunite.
Source: www.kirk.senate.gov
