Sen. Kirk Pushes Resolution Seeking To Reunite Korean-Americans With Relatives In North Korea
CHICAGO (CBS) -- U.S. Senator Mark Kirk is pushing for the State Department to help Korean-Americans reunite with their families members still back in North Korea, reports WBBM's Nancy Harty.
Chahee Stanfield's brother was conscripted into the North Korean army during the Korean War. She says the last time any relative saw him was her nephew, a Methodist minister from Chicago, in 1992 while visiting North Korea.
"After that he wrote to me twice, but then over the 1990s his letters abruptly stopped," she said. "I don't know whether he is still alive or not."
She was testifying in a hearing today held by Senator Kirk, whose younger sister was adopted from South Korea as a baby.
The Republican is pushing through a resolution to have the secretary of state reach out to North Korean leaders to facilitate reunions between some of the estimated 65,000 Korean-Americans living in the Chicago area and their lost relatives.