US seeks info on missing man

SEOUL: US special envoy Robert King called on DPRK leaders to release the US citizen it is holding, but acknowledged that Washington had little information on the person.

Robert King, a former staff director on the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, is on his first visit overseas as special envoy for DPRK human rights. The position was created in 2005 by Congress.

King plans to travel to Japan on Friday. He has no plans to visit the DPRK, although he said he would be "happy to go" if Pyongyang invited him.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's human rights situation must improve before the country can expect to normalize relations with the United States, US President Barack Obama's special envoy on the issue said yesterday.

Pyongyang announced late last month that it was holding a US citizen for "illegally entering" the country through the DPRK-China border, though it did not elaborate. He is widely believed to be Robert Park, an American missionary who ROK activists say crossed into the country over a frozen river several days earlier to raise the issue of human rights in the DPRK.

AP

(China Daily 01/12/2010 page11)