Biden appoints first special envoy for human rights to North Korea in 6 years News
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Biden appoints first special envoy for human rights to North Korea in 6 years

US President Joe Biden Tuesday announced the appointment of a new Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea. The appointment will mark the first time the position has been filled since 2017.

Biden nominated Julie Turner who currently serves as the director of the Office of East Asia and the Pacific in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the Department of State (DOS). Turner has worked at the DOS for the past 16 years on issues supporting human rights in North Korea.

The Office of the Special Envoy for Human Rights in North Korea was first created in 2004 under the North Korean Human Rights Act of 2004. The act’s purpose is to further the human rights of North Korean citizens by promoting humanitarian aid, increasing monitoring of the North Korean government, and the promotion of democracy throughout the country. The act also created the Office of the Special Envoy on Human Rights. The act states that the duties of the office are to “promote efforts to improve respect for the fundamental human rights of the people of North Korea.”

The office has been vacant since 2017 when former President Donald Trump took office. Once the Biden administration came into power, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made it clear during a 2021 interview with South Korean news agency KBS that Biden was committed to re-creating the office and appointing a new special envoy. Blinken stated:

President Biden has been very clear from day one that he was determined to put human rights and democracy back at the center of American foreign policy. North Korea, unfortunately, is one of the most egregious human rights situations that we know around the world.

Turner is set to fill the office later this year following her confirmation by the Senate.

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