US envoy calls for 'durable solutions' to improve NK human rights

Julie Turner, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, attends a media roundtable at the American Diplomacy House in Yongsan District, Seoul, Oct. 18. Joint Press Corps

The recent forced repatriation of North Koreans in China is one incident that calls on the need for like-minded countries to discuss "durable solutions" for those seeking to leave the reclusive country, the new U.S. envoy for North Korean human rights said Wednesday.

Julie Turner, the special representative for Pyongyang's human rights issues, expressed hope that the United States and South Korea will work together to help bring about a tangible change to the dire situation in the North.

"As an international community, we should all be concerned (about forced repatriation), and this requires all governments to work together to ensure that there are not more repatriations but also to be willing to provide durable solutions for North Koreans that are seeking refuge overseas," Turner said during a media roundtable at the American Diplomacy House in Yongsan, Seoul.

Turner was referring to reports that China sent around 600 North Korean defectors back to their reclusive homeland against their will early last week.

Seoul and Washington said they have raised the issue with Beijing, urging it to abide by the international principle of not forcing refugees back to countries where they face the risk of persecution.

Turner did not elaborate on what those solutions are going to be as she has just been assigned to the job, but stressed her role in "reinvigorating" the international community to address the issue to "promote the accountability" for those responsible for the human rights violations.

"I hope to work very closely with the South Korean government and the rest of the international community to continue to press on concrete change that improves the lives of the North Korean people," she said.

Turner, who was officially sworn in Friday, was visiting Seoul on a three-day trip since Monday to discuss the North's human rights with Seoul officials and advocate groups.

After Turner's visit to the foreign ministry, officials said the allies will work to resume a bilateral consultative channel on the North's human rights issues.

Bilateral talks on North Korean human rights were not held under the previous liberal Moon Jae-in government, a move seen as aimed at avoiding tensions with Pyongyang amid a peace drive.

Turner also said that the issue of separated families is a new area of the special envoy's mandate and she intends to put focus on it to address the needs of Korean Americans divided by the 1950-53 Korean War.

"In that bucket of separated families, we intend to include the POWs (prisoners of war), abductees and detainees as well," she said.

"This is an issue that the entirety of the U.N. community and the international community should be focused on because it does involve violation of human rights and also is a form of transnational oppression," she added. (Yonhap)