U.S. envoy to raise human rights issues while in N. Korea: State Dept.

By Hwang Doo-hyong WASHINGTON, May 24 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. envoy traveling to North Korea for a hunger assessment will also raise human rights issues and call for the release of an American citizen held for months for proselytizing, the State Department said Tuesday. Robert King, special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, flew into Pyongyang Tuesday, leading a fact-finding mission on the food situation in the impoverished communist state, believed to be suffering from severe food shortages due to floods and a harsh winter. It is the first time that North Korea has agreed to admit a U.S. or United Nations human rights envoy. Some analysts say his visit represents the North's keen desire to get food aid. "Obviously, the trip is about assessing North Korea's food shortages and food needs," spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. On the question if King will call for human rights improvement and the release of Jun Yong-su, Toner said, "Those are all issues that he covers in his portfolio, and he will raise human rights issues. He'll also raise the status of our American citizen, who's currently being held in a North Korean jail, and reiterate our desire to see him released immediately on humanitarian grounds." North Korea last month said it would soon indict Jun without specifying his crime. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter failed to bring back Jun when he visited Pyongyang late last month. In August, he brought back another American citizen, Aijalon Gomes, who was sentenced to eight years in a labor and re-education camp and fined US$700,000 for illegal entry. King's team will travel outside Pyongyang, Toner said. "They'll have meetings in Pyongyang today, and I also believe that the evaluation team will begin it assessment by traveling outside of Pyongyang to different regions," he said. "They'll be carrying out their needs assessment in the next week or so." U.S. food aid to the North was suspended in March 2009 amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests and controversy over the transparency of food distribution. Washington pledged to provide 500,000 tons of food in 2008, but delivered only 169,000 tons before the shipments were suspended. North Korea recently appealed to the U.S. and other countries for food aid. The United Nations last month appealed for 430,000 tons of food for North Korea to feed 6 million people stricken by floods and severe winter weather. A U.N. monitoring team concluded a fact-finding mission in North Korea in early April. King's visit coincides with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's ongoing travel to China, his third trip since May of last year, apparently to woo food and economic cooperation with the North's biggest benefactor. Seoul and Washington have not yet made a decision on possible food aid to the North, although they have discussed the issue for months. South Korea appears to be less willing to resume food aid as critics say North Korea is exaggerating its food shortages to hoard food in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the birth of its late leader, Kim Il-sung, in April next year. The conservative Lee Myung-bak administration suspended food aid to North Korea due to the North's nuclear programs, although Lee's liberal predecessors had shipped more than 400,000 tons of food and fertilizer each to the North annually. International talks on ending North Korea's nuclear ambitions have been in limbo for more than two years over U.N. sanctions imposed after the North's nuclear and missile tests and two deadly border attacks that killed 50 South Koreans last year. South Korea has demanded North Korea's apology for the provocations before any resumption of the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. Pyongyang denies involvement in the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, and claims the attack on Yeonpyeong Island was provoked by South Korea's artillery exercises near the sea border. In an incremental approach toward the nuclear talks' resumption, South Korea and China recently called on North Korea to have a bilateral nuclear dialogue with South Korea and then another bilateral discussion with the U.S. ahead of any plenary session of the six-party talks. The North has not yet responded to the proposal.