WASHINGTON—The Obama Administration has settled on veteran Congressional staff member Robert King as the new U.S. special envoy for human rights in North Korea, according to several diplomatic sources who asked not to be named.
King served as an aide to the late House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Lantos for 25 years, until Lantos’s death in February 2008.
He helped to draft the 2004 North Korea Human Rights Act, which mandated the creation of special envoy for human rights in North Korea and made North Koreans eligible for political asylum in the United States.
Diplomatic sources told RFA’s Korean service that King would soon be appointed to the position formerly held by Jay Lefkowitz under the Bush Administration.
The State Department and White House declined to comment on the pending appointment.
Welcome appointment
Chuck Downs, executive director of the nonprofit Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, called King “a good appointment.”
“Dr. Robert King has a strong background in human rights issues, especially during the transition of those societies in Eastern Europe from communist regime to democratic society,” Downs said.
“I think that he may find himself in a similar situation dealing with transition in North Korea, and I hope that he will put that experience in Europe to work for North Korean human rights issues,” Downs added.
Roberta Cohen, a human rights expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said King would probably work to bring more North Korean refugees into the United States.
“What is important now is that it seems to be an agreement between the State Department and the Congress that it's important to have this position and that it should be fully integrated” with all the relevant U.S. government agencies, Cohen said.
“There is a strong sentiment that more North Koreans should be accepted into the United States” and that Washington should take a more active role in making that happen, she said.
As of June 17, according to a State Department official, a total of 90 North Korean refugees have been admitted to the United States as political asylees.
Original reporting by Myeong Hwa Jang for RFA’s Korean service. Korean service director: Insop Han. Written and produced in English by Sarah Jackson-Han.
