YONHAP NEWS

New U.S. human rights envoy due in Seoul next month

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Yonhap) -- Robert King, the new U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, will make his first trip to South Korea next month since taking up the post to meet government officials and civic activists, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.

"He plans to visit South Korea on Jan. 11. The South Korean and U.S. sides are in consultations to fix a concrete schedule," the source said. "He will meet officials at the foreign ministry and the Unification Ministry as well as activists campaigning to improve the human rights situation in North Korea as part of efforts to gather information."

King, a former congressional aide, took office last month after the Senate approved his nomination by President Barack Obama, replacing Jay Lefkowitz who quit earlier this year after serving in the position for four years since 2005.

   King was nominated in September under the North Korean Human Rights Act which calls for provision of financial aid to help improve human rights conditions in the North and accommodation of North Korean defectors to the U.S.

   The act went into effect in 2004 under the Bush administration to be valid for four years and was extended by Congress for another four years in September 2008. It calls for "activities to support human rights and democracy and freedom of information in North Korea," and "assistance to North Koreans who are outside North Korea."

   King said earlier that he wants to travel to North Korea but that the North is unlikely to approve such a trip.

   "Instead, he is expected to visit China and Japan while in Asia next month," the source said.

   His predecessor Lefkowitz was repeatedly denied access to North Korea, although he frequently visited South Korea and China to collect information needed to write reports on the communist nation's alleged human rights abuses.

   lcd@yna.co.kr
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