“I introduced your case on the floor of the House last week. This is what we can do together.” March 18, 2001. Mark Kirk.

September22, 2001: Then-Congressman Mark Kirk and Chicago KACC members met with Secretary of State Colin Powell and Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly. US government policy on the divided families was adopted. The policy is that when the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea normalize their relationship, the family issue will be treated as a top priority.

November 2001: House Concurrent Resolution 77 was passed. (Congressman Xavier Becerra and Congressman Ed Royce)

February 2002: Senate Concurrent Resolution 90 supporting the US government policy and the House Resolution were passed in the Senate. (Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer and Senator Charles Hagel)

February 2006: Then-Congressman Mark Kirk started a project to pass his first bill, HR4986, Section 1265, and Alice Suh became the founding director of the Saemsori Project.called Saemsori

Then-Congressman Kirk and Alice Suh founded the Congressional Commission on the Divided Families in September 2007, and then-Congressman Kirk and Congressman Jim Matheson (Utah-D) were the cochairmen. The Congressional Commissioners were Dan Burton (R-IN), Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam), Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Mike Honda (D-CA), Diane Watson (D-CA), Anna Eshoo (D-CA) (joined 08/29/2007), Tom Davis (R-VA) (joined 09/05/2007), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) (joined 10/10/2007), Jane Harman (D-CA) Then-Congressman Kirk’s bill, HR4986, Section 1265 was passed in the Senate in October 2007, passed in the House in December 2007 and was signed by President George W. Bush on January 28, 2008. However, the bill expired on July 28, 2008.

Then-Congressman Kirk met the National Coalition members to discuss the strategy to pass the second divided family bill, HR3288. HR3288 was passed in the House in July 2009, passed in the Senate in December 2009, and President Barack Obama signed the bill on December 16, 2009. President Obama appointed Ambassador Robert King as the Divided Family ambassador in December 2009.

The inability of Korean-Americans to meet with their relatives who live in North Korea is heartless and cruel. Helping these divided families meet with their loved-ones again should be an element of our human rights efforts with the North.” Robert King

The National Coalition had their first meeting with Ambassador Robert King in April 2010.

Senator Mark Kirk wrote a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dated March 30, 2011 urging the reunion for the Divided Families. The secretary contacted DPRK. As a result, DPRK invited Ambassador Robert King to Pyongyang, and during the ambassador’s visit in May 2011, Ambassador King and his North Korean counterpart, Mr. Kim, Kae Kwon, agreed on the reunion. In August 2011, during Mr. Kim’s visit to the USA, Ambassador King and Mr. Kim agreed to start the process right away. However, during the American Red Cross’s second pilot project with DPRK, Chairman Kim Jung IL passed away in December, and the reunion process was stopped.

The Coalition members met the American Red Cross about the reunion process. March 2012

The DFUSA met the American Red Cross officials about the reunion process October 2016.

April 2014: Resolution HR1771 sponsored by Chairman Ed Royce and Congressman Gerry Connolly was passed.

H.Res.Con.40 was passed by Congressman Charles Rangel in November 2015.

Senator Mark Kirk’s Hearing. April 2015

Congressional Hearing (Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus) sponsored by KAPAC (Casey Choi) June 2019

On July 19, 2021, Bill HR826, Divided Families Reunification Act introduced by Congresswoman Grace Meng and Congressman Van Taylor and co-sponsored by Congresswoman Young Kim was passed in the House.

July 22, 2021, Resolution H.Res.410 introduced by Congresswoman Karen Bass was passed in the House.

Senator Mazie Hirono Senator Dan Sullivan August 20, 2021: Korean War Divided Families Reunification Act S.2688 was introduced in the Senate.

Asking 100 senators to pass S.2688 Choi, Chang-Chun