The U.S. special envoy on North Korean human rights issues arrived in Seoul on Tuesday amid the United Nations’ quickening move to adopt a resolution on the communist country’s dire human rights situation.

Robert King landed in South Korea in the morning on his three-day trip reportedly to be focused on the ongoing U.N. moves.

Late last month, a draft resolution on the North Korean human rights issue was submitted to the U.N.’s Third Committee, dealing with social and humanitarian affairs. Member countries are now planning to adopt the resolution in the U.N. General Assembly, which calls for referring North Korea’s human rights violations to the International Criminal Court.

During this visit, King is scheduled to meet with South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Hwang Joon-kook as well as other security officials.

King will also attend a human rights forum in Seoul on Thursday following his tour of a local resettlement center for North Korean defectors earlier in the day.

King’s visit also came just three days after the North sent two American citizens, who had been detained in the communist country, back home.

The recent release by the North was also expected to dominate King’s upcoming consultations with South Korean officials.

King’s trip comes a day after Marzuki Darusman, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, flew into Seoul for a five-day stay.

Darusman discussed the latest development in the U.N. efforts to adopt the North Korean human rights resolution in his meetings with South Korean foreign ministry officials on Tuesday, according to officials.

The U.N. official also plans to meet with human rights activists concerning the North Korean situation and to attend the same human rights forum with King before leaving the country on Friday. (Yonhap)