By Kim Se-jeong
Staff Reporter
Vitit Muintarborne, a Thai national who serves as a United Nations special rapporteur on North Korean human rights and Robert King, the U.S. special envoy dealing with North Korean human rights are visiting Seoul this week.
What the two human rights envoys say and do will be closely watched, especially by North Korea, as it contemplates returning to the six-party talks on its denuclearization.
The UN rapporteur's visit appears to be a routine trip to collect information for a report he is mandated to write.
He is to meet up with the government officials and North Korean defectors and to visit resettlement facilities.
The U.S. envoy King's visit is more closely related to Robert Park, a U.S. citizen detained for crossing the border last month.
A Christian missionary and an active advocate for North Korean human rights, Park crossed the border with the aim of raising awareness of North Korean human rights violations around the world. He expressed his intention through a video he made.
King arrived in Seoul Sunday, and on his way back to Washington, will stop in Japan to discuss kidnapped Japanese citizens.
Many hope to eventually see the issue of human rights included on the six-party talks' agenda.
At the United Nations, the issue has been recognized for several years now. After years of silence, the Korean government under President Lee Myung-bak joined other nations' condemnation of the North's human rights record and calls for improvement.
The Foreign Ministry said it's unknown whether the two envoys will meet during their visits.