This bipartisan bill was introduced on February 12, 2025 in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced the Senate version of the bill, or S. 555, which was cosponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), and Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE). Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) joined as a cosponsor in September 2025. In the House of Representatives, the bill was introduced by Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA-10) alongside cosponsors Rep. Young Kim (R-CA-40), Rep. Gerald Connolly (D-VA-11), Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11), Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA-32) and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA-1). The bill has since garnered nine additional cosponsors.
S. 555 has been referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and H.R. 1273 has been referred to the House Foreign Relations Committee as of February 2025.
Summary provided by the Congressional Research Service:
This 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, 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 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.