Ministry of Foreign Affairs Meets with U.S. State Department Human Rights Deputy Assistant Secretary: "Visit Part of Communication for Human Rights Report"

First Visit to South Korea Since Taking Office

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs met with Riley Barnes, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL), who is visiting South Korea. Deputy Assistant Secretary Barnes, who leads the work of preparing the annual U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, is known to be meeting with a wide range of people during his visit, including government officials, religious representatives, and civil society figures.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 8, Jang Ukjin, Coordinator for Global Multilateral Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with Deputy Assistant Secretary Barnes in Seoul on this day. This is Barnes's first visit to South Korea since taking office last year.

An official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained, "The U.S. State Department has been communicating with various stakeholders during the preparation of the annual Human Rights Report, the Trafficking in Persons Report, and the International Religious Freedom Report, and we understand that this visit is also part of such communication."

Meanwhile, on the previous day, Deputy Assistant Secretary Barnes visited Saegero Church in Busan and met with representatives of Pastor Son Hyunbo, who had led protests against the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk Yeol. Belsis Romero, White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships liaison, Dewey Moore, Principal Consul at the U.S. Consulate in Busan, and Josh Davis, Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, were also present.

Regarding this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the purpose of this visit was to gather routine opinions for the U.S. State Department's reports on human rights and religious freedom.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.