Ambassador Robert King, Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues, will travel to Geneva April 30-May 2 to participate in the second cycle of the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (D.P.R.K.) human rights record.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is an important mechanism through which the human rights record of every UN member state is reviewed every four and a half years. The May 1 UPR for the D.P.R.K. will further bring to light the magnitude of the human rights problem in North Korea, as described in the recent UN Commission of Inquiry report, and the growing awareness in the international community of the importance of holding North Korea accountable for the serious human rights violations being committed against its people.

While in Geneva, Ambassador King will also meet with UN officials and representatives from other governments, as well as members of civil society groups.

He will then travel to London May 3-7 for consultations with U.K. officials on a wide range of North Korean human rights and humanitarian issues.

Ambassador King will return to Washington, DC on May 8.