It is a decision that will not please Pyongyang.
US President Joe Biden on Monday appointed a special human rights envoy to North Korea, a post left vacant during the entire tenure of the former administration of Donald Trump.
It had been created by a law in 2004 aimed at lobbying on the issue of human rights.
The post, which has the rank of ambassador, was given to a career diplomat, Julie Turner, who currently heads the Asia section of the human rights office within the US State Department.
It had not been filled since January 2017, when former President Donald Trump sought to forge ties with Pyongyang, meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un three times.
This had led to an easing of tensions between the two countries, without this leading to a long-term agreement.
Mass Imprisonment and Forced Labor, State Department Says
Tension has risen dramatically in recent months between North Korea and its southern neighbor as well as the United States and Japan due to the record number in 2022 of missile launches by Pyongyang.
In its latest annual human rights report, the State Department exposed widespread abuses in the reclusive communist country, including mass imprisonment and forced labor.
Julie Turner, who is fluent in French and Korean according to her official biography, has yet to be confirmed in the post by a vote of the US Senate.
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