Latest news with #NorthKoreanHumanRightsAct
Korea Herald
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
Rubio says appointment process underway to find 'right person' for NK human rights envoy
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that an appointment process is taking place to find the "right" person to fill the State Department post for special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. The secretary made the remarks during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing, responding to a question by Rep. Young Kim about whether he has a plan to appoint someone to fill the post that has been vacant since former Special Envoy Julie Turner left in January. "Yes and obviously, that's going through the process of the presidential personnel for the appointment process to find the right person ... make sure the vetting is cleared and so forth," Rubio said. He noted that initially, the administration prioritized appointments of assistant secretaries and other Senate confirmed positions. "We are working through it, but obviously our intention is to have someone as the statute requires," he said. Questions have lingered over whether the Trump administration would name a new special envoy amid a sense that it is paying less attention to foreign human rights issues. The appointment of the special envoy for North Korean human rights is based on the North Korean Human Rights Act, which was first enacted in 2004 and is updated and reauthorized periodically. Turner took the special envoy post in October 2023, filling a vacancy that had lasted more than six years. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
US special envoy for NK human rights remains vacant
The position of US special envoy for North Korean human rights issues has remained vacant for more than three months since the start of US President Donald Trump's second nonconsecutive term. According to the US Department of State on Wednesday, Julie Turner — who had held the post since October 2023 — now serves as acting deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Her departure came as part of a broader reshuffle during the administrative transition — a common process in which many special envoy positions are dissolved or reassigned. However, no successor has so far been appointed to the North Korean human rights envoy role. A new nomination appears unlikely in the near term. Before Turner's appointment, the post had remained vacant for six years since her predecessor, Robert King, stepped down in January 2017, just before Trump's first term began. The role remained unfilled until former President Joe Biden nominated Turner at the midpoint of his term in January 2023. Established under the North Korean Human Rights Act, which took effect in October 2004, the envoy position is tasked with coordinating US efforts to improve human rights conditions in North Korea.
