Senior U.S. human rights official to visit Seoul next week

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- A senior State Department official handling human rights issues will visit South Korea next week for talks about how to address human rights abuses in North Korea, the department said Tuesday.

During the Oct. 27-28 trip to Seoul, Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski will meet with government officials, civil society leaders, North Korean defectors, and democracy and human rights program implementers to "continue the international community's momentum to address the egregious human rights situation" in the North, the department said.

Seoul is the second leg of Malinowski's two-nation trip that will also take him to Vietnam on Oct. 22-26. While in Hanoi, he will discuss the importance of demonstrable progress on human rights to moving U.S.-Vietnam relations forward, the department said.

jschang@yna.co.kr
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