U.S. deploys North Korean envoys

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WASHINGTON, June 5 (UPI) -- Washington announced it was sending two of its top North Korean envoys on a tour of Europe and Asia to discuss nuclear proliferation and human rights concerns.

The U.S. State Department announced Glyn Davies, special envoy for North Korean policy, was en route to Moscow, Brussels and Paris to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula with non-proliferation officials.

Davies in early 2011 helped broker a deal in Beijing that saw North Korea place a moratorium on long-range missile and nuclear tests in exchange for food assistance from the United States. The deal collapsed in April, however, when Pyongyang attempted to deploy a satellite into orbit using a long-range rocket.

Robert King, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, meanwhile, is to arrive Thursday in Tokyo to discuss the regional situation with Japanese officials.

A coalition of 40 human rights organizations and activists in April submitted a petition to the U.N. Human Rights Council calling for action to shut down the country's forced labor system.

U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, last month described Pyongyang is among the most brutal regimes in the world.