US Bill Grants WMD Informants Asylum

On March 27, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) unanimously passed a revised immigration bill in which foreigners with information on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) or counterfeit money will be regarded as political asylum seekers and provided with an S-type political asylum visa.

The bill was proposed by U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who led the effort to legislate the North Korean Human Rights Act. Within two years since first being proposed in 2004, it has passed the SJC, giving it a greater chance for final legislation passage.

When the first proposal was made, Brownback excluded this particular clause because of opposing views that said, “It would trigger North Korean high-level officials’ defection to the U.S. and would leave an impression that the U.S. government want to see the North collapse.”

According to the revised bill, foreigners and their family members who are aware of rogue government WMDs, WMD equipment-related data, and plans to smuggle WMD are will be provided with an S-type political asylum visa.

Michael Horowitz, a senior researcher at Hudson Institute, explained, “North Korea and Iran were not specifically mentioned, but given that nuclear weapons, missiles, and counterfeit money were brought up, they had the North Koreans’ possible defection to the U.S. in mind.”

So far, the targets for S visa are confined to foreigners (S-1 visa) who provide help to the U.S. government in criminal investigation, and those (S-2 visa) whose life are at stake by providing important information to the U.S. government and the courts. Their intermediate family members are given S-3 visas.

According to the revision bill, the number of those on the S visa list will increase from the current 250 to 1,000 a year, and in case the number of issuance does not surpass 250, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is obligated to explain the reasons. This is to encourage the issuing of the S visa.

Until now, there has been a provision saying providing the S visa for up to 250 people, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reasoned, saying, “It might trigger terrorists to sneak into the U.S.” Thus, the actual case of an S visa being issued has been rare.

One Washington source said, “Last year, the North Korea policy was much talked and little done, but it seems to be different this year.”