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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