New United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner Seoul head James Heenan / Screenshot from United Nations website

By Nam Hyun-woo

United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner Seoul (OHCHR Seoul) will have an Australian human rights adviser as its new head, ending a two-year leadership vacuum.

According to Voice of America, a spokesperson for the office of the U.N. Secretary General said Tuesday that it has appointed James Heenan as the head of OHCHR Seoul, without specifying his term.

"The head of the office is James Heenan and he will begin his role shortly," the office was quoted by the news outlet.

Heenan was a practicing lawyer in Australia and the U.K., focusing on labor rights issues. After joining the U.N., he has worked with OHCHR for 16 years and most recently served as the head of OHCHR's office in the occupied Palestine territories.

As OHCHR Seoul appoints its new head, the organization's activities for monitoring North Korea's human rights situation will likely get back on track.

After its inaugural head, Signe Poulsen, served her five-year term and left the office for a new position in the Philippines in 2020, the office has been operating without a chief, triggering concerns from multiple North Korea human rights civic groups.

In August of last year, seven civic groups in the U.S., Canada and South Korea sent a joint letter to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and urged the prompt appointment of OHCHR Seoul's chief, saying it "has lacked an effective chief who can speak with authority to the press and civil society to maintain visibility of the issue or to guarantee access to North Korean escapees for documentation, devoid of politics or bureaucracy."

OHCHR Seoul opened in June 2015 to monitor human rights in North Korea, and to work with relevant governments, civil society and others to promote and protect human rights.