---
kind: "section"
citation: "22 U.S.C. § 7841"
title: "22"
title_heading: "Foreign Relations and Intercourse"
number: "7841"
heading: "United States policy toward refugees and defectors"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/22/7841"
units:
  - "Chapter 85 — North Korean Human Rights"
  - "Subchapter III — Protecting North Korean Refugees"
---

# §7841. United States policy toward refugees and defectors

- (a) **Report—** Not later than 120 days after October 18, 2004, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the heads of other appropriate Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to the [appropriate congressional committees](/usc/22/7803.md?p=1) and the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate a report that describes the situation of North Korean refugees and explains United States Government policy toward North Korean nationals outside of [North Korea](/usc/22/7803.md?p=4).
- (b) **Contents—** The report shall include—
  - (1) an assessment of the circumstances facing North Korean refugees and migrants in hiding, particularly in [China](/usc/22/7803.md?p=2), and of the circumstances they face if forcibly returned to [North Korea](/usc/22/7803.md?p=4);
  - (2) an assessment of whether [North Koreans](/usc/22/7803.md?p=5) in [China](/usc/22/7803.md?p=2) have effective access to personnel of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and of whether the Government of [China](/usc/22/7803.md?p=2) is fulfilling its obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, particularly Articles 31, 32, and 33 of such Convention;
  - (3) an assessment of whether [North Koreans](/usc/22/7803.md?p=5) presently have unobstructed access to United States refugee and asylum processing, and of United States policy toward [North Koreans](/usc/22/7803.md?p=5) who may present themselves at United States embassies or consulates and request protection as refugees or asylum seekers and resettlement in the United States;
  - (4) the total number of [North Koreans](/usc/22/7803.md?p=5) who have been admitted into the United States as refugees or asylees in each of the past 5 years;
  - (5) an estimate of the number of [North Koreans](/usc/22/7803.md?p=5) with family connections to United States citizens; and
  - (6) a description of the measures that the Secretary of State is taking to carry out [section 7843 of this title](/usc/22/7843.md).
- (c) **Form—** The information required by paragraphs [(1)](#b-1) through [(5)](#b-5) of subsection (b) shall be provided in unclassified form. All or part of the information required by [subsection (b)(6)](#b-6) may be provided in classified form, if necessary.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 108–333, title III, § 301, Oct. 18, 2004, 118 Stat. 1295.)