Prosecution or Persecution: Contradictions between U.S. Foreign Policy & the Adjudication of Asylum Claims Involving the Harboring of North Korea Refugees
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PROSECUTION OR PERSECUTION:
CONTRADICTIONS BETWEEN U.S. FOREIGN
POLICY & THE ADJUDICATION OF ASYLUM
CLAIMS INVOLVING THE HARBORING OF
NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES
ALYCE S. AHN*
I. INTRODUCTION
Passed with unanimous consent in both the House of Representatives and
the Senate,' the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004 [NKHRA of 2004]
and the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 [NKHRA
of 2008] clearly articulate the United States' concerns about the plight of
North Koreans trying to escape North Korea. They also forcefully express
the U.S.'s disapproval of the Government of China's treatment of both the
North Koreans within China's borders and the people who help such North
Koreans.2 However, for many years, the vast majority of the decisions of the
U.S.'s Federal Courts of Appeals have denied asylum to people who have
suffered harm at the hands of Chinese officials for harboring and giving
* J.D. Candidate, Georgetown University Law Center, 2010. @ 2010, Alyce S. Ahn.
1. See GlobalSecurity.org, House Bill Aims to Improve Human Rights Situation in North Korea,
July 22, 2004, http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/congress/2004_cr/040722-dprkhr4011.
htm (The House of Representatives passed by unanimous voice vote on July 21 H.R. 4011, the North
Korean Human Rights Act of 2004.); Govtrack.us, H.R. 4011 [108'h]: North Korean Human Rights
Act of 2004, http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h108-4011 (This bill passed in the
Senate with changes by Unanimous Consent.); Steve Wiscombe, North Korean Human Rights
Reauthorization Act of 2008 Passes in Congress, DAILYNK, Sept. 24, 2008, http://www.dailynk.com/
english/read.php?catald= nk00100&num=4104 (The House of Representatives unanimously passed
the North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008 . . . .); Govtrack.us, 2008-H.R.
5834 [110h] North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008, http://www.govtrack.us/
congress/bill.xpd?bill=hl1O-5834 (This bill passed in the Senate with changes by Unanimous
Consent.).
2. See North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-333, 22 U.S.C.A. §§ 7801-
7845 (2010); North Korean Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-346, 122
Stat. 3939 (2008).
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