# Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act

This bill would create an official registry to help Korean American families who were separated during the Korean War find each other. Many families were torn apart when the peninsula was divided in 1950, and some relatives ended up on opposite sides of the border—one family member in North Korea, another in South Korea, and still others who immigrated to the United States. Decades later, these separated relatives often have no way to locate or communicate with each other. This registry would serve as a centralized database where Korean Americans could register information about their lost family members and potentially connect with them.

The bill recognizes that this separation represents a unique historical tragedy for Korean Americans. Unlike other immigrant communities, Korean families faced an extraordinary circumstance where political division literally split their relatives across an international border, making reunion nearly impossible. By establishing this national registry, the government would acknowledge this specific hardship and provide a concrete tool to help people search for their loved ones. The registry would likely be managed by a federal agency and could work in coordination with existing family reunion programs that sometimes operate between North and South Korea.

For Korean Americans searching for separated relatives, this would mean having an official, organized system to document their family connections and potentially match with others seeking the same relatives. It could also facilitate information-sharing with international organizations and the governments of North and South Korea that occasionally conduct family reunions. While the registry alone cannot guarantee reunions—especially given the political barriers between North and South Korea—it would at least create an official record and improve the chances of connection for families who have been separated for over seventy years.

Korean American Divided Families National Registry Act

Subramanyam, Suhas

Korean American Divided Families National Registry ActThis bill establishes a national registry of Korean American families who wish to be reunited with family members living in North Korea. The bill also requires the Department of State to include reunions of such families in any direct dialogue with North Korea.Specifically, the bill requires the State Department to (1) collect information on Korean American families, divided from North Korean family members after the Korean War armistice,&nbsp;who wish to be reunited with such family members; and (2) establish a national registry of information on those families to facilitate future reunions. The State Department must&nbsp;ensure that any direct dialogue with North Korea includes progress towards holding such reunions.The State Department must report to Congress periodically on the registry, previous reunions, and on certain North Korean actions related to reunions.