US President Joe Biden on Monday (January 23) appointed a special envoy on human rights to North Korea, a post left vacant during the entire mandate of the former administration of Donald Trump.
The post was given to a career diplomat, Julie Turner, who currently heads the Asia section of the human rights office at the US State Department.
It had been vacated since January 2017 when former President Donald Trump sought to forge ties with Pyongyang, meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un three times.
This had led to an easing of tensions between the two countries, without this leading to a long-term agreement.
The position, which has the rank of ambassador, was created by a law in 2004 aimed at lobbying the issue of human rights in North Korea, one of the most authoritarian countries in the world.
vast abuses
Tension has risen dramatically in recent months between North Korea and its southern neighbor as well as the United States and Japan due to the record number in 2022 of missile launches by Pyongyang.
In its latest annual human rights report, the State Department exposed widespread abuses in the reclusive communist country, including mass imprisonment and forced labor.
Julie Turner, who is fluent in French and Korean according to her official biography, has yet to be confirmed in the post by a vote of the US Senate.