The U.S. State Department's special envoy for North Korea's human rights issues, who is visiting South Korea, pledged to enhance cooperation with the international community to prevent forced repatriation of North Korean defectors.

According to Seoul's unification ministry on Saturday, U.S. Special Envoy Julie Turner made the pledge during a meeting with young North Korean defectors at a ministry-run inter-Korean cultural center the previous day.

Turner said the visit to the center was meaningful as it provided a chance to understand Seoul's settlement support system for the defectors and to have an in-depth conversation with them.

Last Thursday, the U.S. envoy met with Kang Jong-suk, a ministry official in charge of human rights, for talks on the importance of recording North Korea's rights violations and bilateral cooperation on assisting Koreans in the U.S. reunite with their families in the regime separated since the Korean War.