New N. Korean human rights envoy to oversee inter-agency efforts: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (Yonhap) -- The new U.S. special envoy for North Korean
human rights will oversee inter-agency efforts to promote human rights and
democracy in North Korea while acting as liaison with international rights
groups, the U.S. State Department said Friday.

The department said envoy Robert King will coordinate policy with Sung Kim,
special envoy for the six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions,
and Philip Goldberg, in charge the Obama administration's efforts to sanction
North Korea under U.N. resolutions adopted after the regime's nuclear and missile
tests this year.
"He'll work closely with bureaus within the State Department here, our Human
Rights Bureau, Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, and, of course, the Bureau of
East Asian and Pacific Affairs," spokesman Ian Kelly said of King. "And, of
course, he'll coordinate with his colleagues in the Korean office with Ambassador
Kim and Ambassador Goldberg."
Obama Thursday appointed King, a former aide to the late Rep. Tom Lantos
(D-California), as special envoy for North Korean human rights, to replace Jay
Lefkowitz, who quit in January after serving in the Bush administration.
Under the North Korean Human Rights Act, then-President George W. Bush appointed
Lefkowitz in 2005 as special envoy for North Korean human rights and provided
financial aid to help improve North Korea's human rights and to accept North
Korean defectors. Congress extended the act a year ago for another four years.
"In terms of what his role will be, he will be part of Ambassador Bosworth's team
in the Office of the Special Representative for North Korea Policy," Kelly said.
"He'll also have a very important role of being the liaison with the human rights
community, with the NGO community, and will also engage with international human
rights organizations in his efforts to try and highlight the problem of North
Korean human rights and trying to promote a more transparent political system in
North Korea." NGO stands for nongovernmental organizations.
Kelly said King has extensive experience working on human rights as staff
director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee under Lantos and also under
Congressman Howard Berman of California.
"He traveled with Congressman Lantos to North Korea in, I think, 2004, and also
played a key role in the passage of the North Korean Human Rights Act," said
Kelly. "He has a Ph.D. in international relations from Tufts and has authored
five books."
On the question if King will attend future talks with North Korea, Kelly said, "I
think first we have to make the decision we're going to actually have the
bilateral talks, and then we'll see who actually participates in it."
The U.S. is considering sending Bosworth to Pyongyang to persuade North Korea to
rejoin the six-party talks, which Pyongyang has boycotted due to international
sanctions on its nuclear and missile tests.
Christopher Hill, then-U.S. point man on North Korea, pledged late last year that
he would allow Lefkowitz to attend future six-party talks to soothe Republican
senators who balked at the nomination of Kathleen Stephens as ambassador to South
Korea. The senators claimed the Bush administration made no effort to improve
North Korea's human rights situation.
In his final report wrapping up a four-year term, Lefkowitz in January urged
Obama to emphasize human rights in the multilateral nuclear talks and proposed
that the U.S. and its allies link any aid to Pyongyang with human rights
improvements.
Lefkowitz was denied access to North Korea while in office, although he
frequently visited South Korea and China to write reports on North Korea's human
rights situation.
hdh@yna.co.kr
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