Biden nominates North Korea human rights envoy, first since 2017

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he boards Air Force One for return travel to Washington, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, U.S., January 23, 2023. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

SEOUL (Reuters) - The White House on Tuesday nominated a special envoy for human rights in North Korea, moving to fill a post that has been empty since 2017 amid debate over how rights issues fit with efforts to counter Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme.

President Joe Biden nominated Julie Turner, a long-time diplomat and current director of the Office of East Asia and the Pacific in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor at the Department of State, the White House said in a statement.