The Divided Families National Registry Act directs the Secretary of State to create a national registry of Korean American families who were separated from relatives in North Korea following the 1953 Korean War Armistice Agreement. The registry would collect names and relevant information about these divided families to help facilitate future in-person and video reunions with their North Korean relatives. The bill also requires the State Department to prioritize family reunions in any direct dialogue with North Korea and to consult with South Korea on these efforts. The legislation authorizes one million dollars in funding to establish and maintain the registry, and it requires the Special Envoy on North Korean Human Rights Issues to report annually to Congress on the registry's status, the number of families who have reunited, North Korea's responses to reunion requests, and North Korean government actions preventing emigration of family members. This bill addresses a decades-long humanitarian issue affecting thousands of American families separated by the division of Korea.
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