It looks like the Obama administration is about to make a bigger issue of North Korea’s human rights record:
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power (C) at the truce village of Panmunjom on Oct. 9, 2016. (Yonhap)
The United States ambassador to the United Nations visited a settlement support center for North Korean defectors on Sunday, official sources said.
Samantha Power, who arrived in Seoul the day before, toured the Hanawon center in Anseong some 77 kilometers south of the South Korean capital and held talks with North Koreans who fled the reclusive country.
Authorities said she took part in a prayer session with some of the defectors who are receiving training so they can assimilate into their new lives in the South.
Government insiders said the trip reflects Washington’s drive to make an issue of the North’s deplorable human rights abuses that could lead to the matter being linked to additional sanctions down the road. Currently talks are underway at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to penalize the North following its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9. [Yonhap]
