Seoul official discusses N. Korean human rights with US envoy

Julie Turner, left, the U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights, and Chun Young-hee, the director general for the Korean Peninsula peace regime pose for a photo at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ahead of their meeting in Seoul, Feb. 21. Courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

A foreign ministry official met with Julie Turner, the U.S. special representative for North Korean human rights, on Wednesday and discussed joint efforts to promote the human rights situation in the reclusive state, the ministry said.

The meeting took place between Turner and Chun Young-hee, director general for the Korean Peninsula peace regime, as the U.S. envoy was visiting Seoul this week to attend an event marking the 10th anniversary of the release of a landmark U.N. report on North Korea's human rights abuses.

At the talks, Chun called for the need to convey the reality about the outside world to the North Korean people as much as promoting the awareness of the North's human rights situations to the international community, the ministry said.

Noting that a U.N. periodic review on North Korea's human rights is scheduled for November this year, Turner suggested South Korea and the U.S. continue to work together on related issues, according to the ministry's release.

They agreed to continue cooperation to protect and support North Korean defectors and to resolve the issues of abductees, detainees and prisoners of war. They also agreed to push for holding the bilateral consultative meeting on North Korean human rights in the first half of this year. (Yonhap)