We have seen year after year of disturbing reports
and stories from defectors who have told us exactly what life is like
for most North Koreans, and we haven't forgotten them. The law that we are reauthorizing today first became law in 2004. This legislation will preserve funding for American assistance to North
Korean refugees, for humanitarian assistance inside the country, as
well as information efforts by our government, and to try every means
possible to get the message out to regular North Korean people that we
are not their enemy. I will say that I am greatly concerned that the latest iteration of
the President's travel ban, which now includes North Korea, sends
exactly the wrong message to defectors from that country. By closing
our door to them, we reinforce the paranoia that the regime
perpetrates.
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refugees