U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights Issues Julie Turner will visit South Korea from Wednesday. 

The U.S. State Department announced on Tuesday that Turner will make the visit from Wednesday to Saturday. 

During her stay, the special envoy is scheduled to attend the Asian Leadership Conference and meet with South Korean government officials, civil society members and North Korean escapees.  

The department said Turner “will reinforce the U.S. commitment to addressing North Korea’s division of families by connecting with relatives of abductees, detainees, and un-repatriated POWs."

The department said Turner will also, across a series of speeches, meetings, and site visits, discuss “the inextricable links” between the North’s human rights abuses and threats to international peace. 

The envoy is also said to be planning on visiting Seonyu Island in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province and Hong Island in Sinan County, South Jeolla Province where five South Korean high school students were abducted by North Korean spies in the 1970s.