US envoy to United Nations visits NK defector support center, Panmunjom

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.

On arrival on Saturday the ambassador said she wanted to directly hear the plight of those that have fled the North, and based on what she learned, go back to New York to negotiate fresh sanctions with other countries.

She had said it is deplorable that the North Korean regime threatens and abuses its people.

"The world has done a much better job in shining the spotlight on those crimes in recent years and I am here also to meet people who have suffered under the North Korean regime's rule," she said after her arrival.

"We also seek to shine the world spotlight on the worst crimes with really no parallel in this world," she added.

Besides going to Hanawon, Powers is set to tour the truce village of Panmunjom on the inter-Korean border, which is expected to send a strong message of Washington's resolve to the North.

She had urged North Korea to stop any further nuclear provocations, stressing that the world will "not be intimidated" by any actions taken by the Kim Jong-un regime.

"Now we are looking to see what more can be done because, of course, another test was carried out at the beginning of September," she said. "This must stop. We are not intimidated by the actions of the government of North Korea."

Power's visit, meanwhile, takes place amid growing concerns that Pyongyang could carry out yet another major military provocation to mark the anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party and the 10th anniversary of its first nuclear test.

Seoul said that Powers is expected to meet Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo on Monday to discuss what actions can be taken against the North, and may hold talks with senior officials from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae. (Yonhap)