The U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation will visit South Korea next week to assess the impact of recent developments in inter-Korean ties on the North Korean people's human rights, according to the U.N. human rights office in Seoul.
  

Marzuki Darusman plans to visit South Korea on Sunday for a five-day stay and meet with government officials, civil society actors and other interested parties here, the office said in a statement on its website.
  

It will be the independent expert's first visit here since the U.N. office opened in June as a follow-up to last year's Commission of Inquiry report that accused North Korea of gross human rights abuses. The communist nation bristles at criticism of its human rights situation, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
  

"I will use this mission to Seoul to obtain new information on the alleged human rights violations in DPRK, but also to discuss the impact of new developments in relations between the two Koreas on human rights," Darusman said in the statement, referring to North Korea by the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
  

The two Koreas reached a landmark agreement last week to defuse heightened military tensions sparked by a landmine explosion and to increase cross-border exchanges, including temporary reunions for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
  

Darusman plans to use the data collected during his trip in a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council next March.
  

At the end of his trip, he will hold a press conference at Yonsei University in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)