Whereas the threat from nuclear proliferation from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) is a clear and present danger to the United States and regional allies; Whereas the Administration’s efforts to engage in diplomatic negotiations to return American hostages and the remains of Americans killed during the Korean War, and to seek the complete, irreversible and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean peninsula are welcome and commendable achievements; Whereas the Government of North Korea continues to engage in systematic, widespread, and gross human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, torture, forced abortion, human trafficking, particularly severe religious freedom abuses, public execution of political prisoners, the death of United States citizen Otto Warmbier and political purges of relatives and family members, including through the use of chemical weapons; Whereas these violations, including the creation of large refugee flows and famines, the abduction of Japanese, South Korean, and United States citizens, and the trafficking of North Korean citizens, remain a distinct threat to regional stability, whether or not North Korea possesses nuclear weapons; Whereas the human trafficking of North Korean citizens has provided the Government of North Korea with foreign currency which supports its efforts to avoid international sanctions and supports its nuclear ambitions; Whereas there remain an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners in North Korea, detained in a system of political prison labor camps; Whereas in 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea found that the violations perpetrated against the people of North Korea were established at the highest level of the Government of North Korea, and such gross human rights violations amount to crimes against humanity in many instances