Turner, former director of the State Department's Office of East Asia and the Pacific in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, was nominated by President Joe Biden to the position in January and confirmed last week by the Senate. An unnamed spokesperson of what North Korea's state media called the Association for Human Rights Studies said Turner had earned "notoriety" for "mudslinging" over human rights issues and "spitting out coarse invective" against the country. The appointment of "such a wicked woman" highlights Washington's hostile policy toward Pyongyang, it said, warning of "retaliatory action of justice." In a separate dispatch, KCNA accused France of escalating tension by sending fighter jets for joint air drills with South Korea. Reporting by Hyonhee Shin in Seoul Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Persons: Tae, Julie Turner, Turner, Joe Biden, KCNA, Ryu Gyong, Hyonhee Shin, Matthew Lewis Organizations: U.S, State Department's Office, East, of Democracy, Human Rights, Labor, Senate, Association for Human Rights Studies, Thomson Locations: Gijungdong, SEOUL, North Korea, East Asia, North, Pyongyang, France, South Korea, U.N, Seoul