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U.N. rights envoy on N. Korea due in Seoul
SEOUL, Jan. 3 (Yonhap) -- The United Nations' envoy on North Korean human rights plans to visit South Korea to meet with defectors from the North and relevant officials as part of a fact-finding mission to determine the latest conditions in the communist state, officials said Sunday.

Vitit Muntarbhorn, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on North Korean human rights, is scheduled to arrive in South Korea on Jan. 10 for a seven-day visit, diplomatic sources, who requested anonymity, said.
Better dining in Seoul than in Pyongyang ...
Muntarbhorn plans to visit Hanawon, a resettlement center in Seoul for North Korean defectors, where he will conduct interviews to obtain first-hand impressions on human rights conditions inside the North, according to officials. He is also scheduled to meet with officials from the unification and foreign ministries in charge of Seoul's affairs with Pyongyang. The findings will be reflected in the U.N.'s upcoming report on the latest human rights conditions in North Korea.

The rapporteur has regularly visited South Korea once or twice a year to collect information on North Korean human rights violations. The U.N. has reportedly sought permission from Pyongyang to allow the rapporteur to visit North Korea, though he has been consistently denied entry by the central government.
Posted by: Steve White 2010-01-04
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=287082