Today, Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Congressman Andy Levin (D-Michigan), member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and human rights activist, co-led a letter to President Joe Biden urging his administration to ease restrictions on delivery of life-saving aid by non-governmental organizations to the people of North Korea.
Senator Markey and Congressman Levin call on the Biden administration to revise Treasury Department regulations that limit humanitarian exports to North Korea and urge the State Department to expedite Special Validation Passports for U.S. humanitarian workers. An estimated 40 percent of North Koreans suffer from food insecurity. North Korea also has one of the highest tuberculosis rates in the world, and an unknown number of COVID-19 cases and deaths, all of which have been exacerbated by the closure of North Korea's border during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The U.S. nongovernmental organizations that provide humanitarian assistance to North Korea have long track records of doing so successfully and safely. Currently, most of these organizations are faith-based and provide this aid with private funds, as an expression of their religious values," the lawmakers wrote. "We should encourage their efforts and remove obstacles to their work so that it can resume as soon as North Korea's borders reopen."
"Standing in the way of those goals are regulations that the Trump administration issued. Those regulations restrict humanitarian access, impede the delivery of aid, and complicate procedures for nonprofit aid organizations to monitor aid delivery to North Korea," the lawmakers continued. "Your Administration can best demonstrate its commitment to humanitarian cooperation with North Korea by directing the Department of the Treasury to modify its humanitarian exemption under existing sanctions regulations and instructing the State Department to expeditiously respond to requests for special validation passports for humanitarian travel."
Read a full copy of the letter here.
Senator Markey and Congressman Levin reintroduced the Enhancing North Korea Humanitarian Assistance Actin April 2021 to require sanctions modifications at the Treasury Department, the State Department, and the United Nations Sanctions Committee on North Korea to ensure that assistance can reach those in need. The Biden administration can take action on these items independent of the passage of the Enhancing North Korea Humanitarian Assistance Act.
Source:https://andylevin.house.gov/media/press-releases/sen-markey-rep-levin-urge-president-biden-roll-back-humanitarian-aid
