The Committee for the Release of North Korea Human Rights Activist Kim Young Hwan plans to urge the U.S. State Department’s dedicated envoy for North Korean human rights, Robert King, to do more to try and obtain the release of Kim and three other South Korean men still being held by the Chinese Ministry of State Security in Liaoning Province.

King is due to arrive in Seoul on June 9th after visiting Japan on the 7th, and during this period is due to meet with human rights groups on the 12th. The committee hopes to raise the issue of Kim’s ongoing detention without legal representation at this time, or in a separate meeting that it hopes can be arranged with the assistance of the South Korean government.

The committee believes the U.S. may be the only country that can change China’s stance, and that U.S. involvement can therefore be used to expedite Kim’s release.

“Special Envoy King’s visit to South Korea is for the purpose of improving North Korean human rights,” a spokesperson for the release committee commented today. “So, it is only natural that the U.S. would take part in working for long-time North Korea human rights activist Kim Young Hwan’s release.”