The U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs has passed a bill seeking to extend the North Korean Human Rights Act for five years.

Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen presided over the committee's meeting Wednesday where the bill extending the North Korean Human Rights Act through 2017 was unanimously approved just five minutes after the mark-up session opened. The bill was then sent to the House of Representatives.

The North Korean Human Rights Act was enacted in 2004 and was extended for four years in 2008.

The House committee said in the legislation that despite the transition of power to Kim Jong-un from his late father posing new uncertainties and possibilities, "the fundamental human rights and humanitarian conditions inside North Korea remain deplorable and North Korean refugees remain acutely vulnerable.”

In particular, the bill also urged China to stop forcibly repatriating North Korean escapees.