The United Nations' Human Rights Council named former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, as the new special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights, a U.S. report said Saturday.

The U.N. council confirmed the Argentine lawyer to replace Marzuki Darusman, the current U.N. special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea, the Washington-based Voice of America reported. 

The incoming rapporteur will be investigating North Korea's human rights conditions and recommending improvement plans during his one-year term.

Ojea Quintana previously served as the U.N. council's special rapporteur for Myanmar human rights from 2008-2014.

The final decision came after Russia protested the U.N.

council's appointment of Ojea Quintana and four other rights investigators on July 1, citing a lack of prior consultations.

But the human rights council has been assured the decision was legitimate, the report quoted the council's President Choi Kyong-lim as saying. The president vowed closer consultations with U.N. members on future appointments, the report said. (Yonhap)