New U.N. rapporteur for N. Korea human rights vows to take victim-centered approach

SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Yonhap) -- Elizabeth Salmon, the newly appointed U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights, promised Monday to take a victim-centered approach in addressing the issue.

Salmon delivered the message during a meeting with 11 human rights activist groups in Seoul, including the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) and the families of the North's 1969 plane hijacking victims, Ethan Hee-seok Shin of TJWG told Yonhap News Agency.

Salmon said she will meet various organizations and people to understand the human rights situation of North Korea during her first trip to South Korea and reflect their voices in the upcoming report to the General Assembly in September.

She pledged to communicate with the families of victims, including civilians who were abducted by North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The representatives from the organizations requested that Salmon urge the Kim Jong-un regime to reveal the whereabouts of two North Korean fishermen who were repatriated by the South Korean government in 2019 in her upcoming report and during the U.N. Human Rights Council in March 2023.

Salmon arrived in Seoul on Saturday for an eight-day stay, during which she plans to meet with senior officials from the foreign and unification ministries, as well as North Korean defectors. It marked her first trip to Korea since assuming the post early this month as Tomas Ojea Quintana's successor.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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