US President Joe Biden appointed a special emissary for human rights in North Korea, a post left vacant for the entire term of the former Donald Trump administration, AFP notes, Agerpres reads.

The job was given to a career diplomat, Julie Turner, who currently heads the Asia Section of the US State Department’s human rights office.

It had been vacant since January 2017, in the context in which former President Donald Trump tried to create ties with Pyongyang, meeting three times with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. This led to a decrease in tensions between the two countries, without reaching a long-term agreement.

The position, which has the rank of ambassador, was created by a law in 2004 aimed at putting pressure on the issue of human rights in North Korea, one of the most authoritarian countries in the world.

Tensions have risen dramatically in recent months between North Korea and its southern neighbor, as well as the United States and Japan, over Pyongyang’s record number of missile launches in 2022.

In its latest annual human rights report, the State Department revealed widespread abuses in the communist country, including mass imprisonment and forced labor.

Julie Turner, who speaks fluent French and Korean according to her official biography, is to be confirmed in office by a vote of the US Senate.

Agerpres