20250SJR_001799INT INTRODUCED 2026-05-12 2025 SJR INT Introduced by Senator Choi (Coauthors: Senators Alvarado-Gil, Ashby, Gonzalez, Grayson, Grove, Hurtado, McNerney, Menjivar, Niello, Padilla, Seyarto, Strickland, Valladares, and Weber Pierson) LEAD_AUTHOR SENATE Choi COAUTHOR SENATE Alvarado-Gil COAUTHOR SENATE Ashby COAUTHOR SENATE Gonzalez COAUTHOR SENATE Grayson COAUTHOR SENATE Grove COAUTHOR SENATE Hurtado COAUTHOR SENATE McNerney COAUTHOR SENATE Menjivar COAUTHOR SENATE Niello COAUTHOR SENATE Padilla COAUTHOR SENATE Seyarto COAUTHOR SENATE Strickland COAUTHOR SENATE Valladares COAUTHOR SENATE Weber Pierson Relative to veterans. veterans Korean American veterans.

This measure would urge the Congress and President of the United States to permit states to extend burial and memorial benefits in state cemeteries to Republic of Korea veterans who served in the Vietnam War and who subsequently became United States citizens. NO

WHEREAS, At the request of the United States, the Republic of Korea provided more military support to the United States during the Vietnam War, alongside United States soldiers, than any other ally, with approximately 320,000 Republic of Korea soldiers serving in Vietnam between and 1973, inclusive; and

WHEREAS, Republic of Korea forces suffered 5,099 casualties and an additional 10,962 soldiers were injured in action during the war, and this was approximately the same rate of injury sustained, per capita, as United States forces; and

WHEREAS, An estimated 2,000,000 Korean Americans live in the United States, with more than 29 percent calling California their home, making California the state with the highest population of Korean Americans in the county; and

WHEREAS, There are approximately 3,000 Korean American veterans of the Vietnam War who are naturalized citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, A citizen of the United States who, during any war in which the United States has or may be engaged, served in the Armed Forces of any government allied with the United States during that war, whose last active service was terminated honorably by death or otherwise, and who was a citizen of the United States at the time of entry into service and at the time of death, is eligible for burial in a national cemetery; and

WHEREAS, In 2018, the federal government extended burial benefits in national veterans cemeteries to certain Hmong refugees who served in American-backed guerrilla units during the Vietnam War and who subsequently became naturalized United States citizens; and

WHEREAS, States are still unable to permit Hmong veterans to be buried in a state veterans cemetery without risk of losing funding from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Cemetery Grant Program;

now, therefore,

be it Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature respectfully urges the Congress of the United States and the President of the United States to permit states to extend burial and memorial benefits in state cemeteries to Republic of Korea veterans who served in the Vietnam War and who subsequently became United States citizens; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature stands in solidarity with the Republic of Korea veterans who served in Vietnam; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, to each Senator and Representative from California in the United States Congress, and to the author for appropriate distribution.