South Korea’s foreign ministry announced plans to appoint a North Korea human rights ambassador on Tuesday, moving to fill a position that has been vacant for more than five years. 

Lee Shin-wha of Korea University will be the nominee, the ministry stated in a press release, stating that she “will play a big role in cooperating with the international community to improve North Korea human rights and bolster humanitarian assistance.”

But experts provided conflicting assessments of whether the new envoy will be able to make progress on DPRK human rights issues, as Pyongyang continues to stonewall the U.N. human