UN special rapporteur on N. Korean human rights to visit Seoul

The United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the situation of North Korean human rights Tomas Ojea Quintana will visit South Korea next week to discuss ways to improve human right conditions in the reclusive country, the foreign ministry here said Friday.

During his five-day stay here from Monday, the UN point man on North Korean human rights conditions will meet with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and other officials from the unification and justice ministries as well as North Korean defectors residing in the South, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Ojea Quintana (AFP)

In her meeting on Monday, Kang plans to inform Quintana of the government's policy on North Korean human rights and discuss how South Korea could cooperate with the UN. to improve the situation, according to the ministry.

The special rapporteur's activities here will also include information gathering needed to compile his report to be presented to a UN General Assembly later in the year. He will wrap up his five-day trip with a press conference in central Seoul on Friday. (Yonhap)