WASHINGTON (AFP) - The nominee for US envoy on human rights in North Korea said Thursday he would press China for better treatment of refugees fleeing the impoverished neighboring state.

Virtually all North Koreans seeking to leave their country cross into China. Beijing has an agreement to repatriate them to its communist ally, where rights groups say the refugees face imprisonment or even execution.

"The Chinese have been less hospitable than we would like in terms of accepting these refugees and allowing them access to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees," Robert King said during his Senate confirmation hearing.

"We continue to press the Chinese, we have raised these issues with the Chinese, and it would be my intention to continue to do that," King said.

President Barack Obama last month named King to be the special envoy on human rights in North Korea, which is locked in a standoff with the United States over its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

North Korea criticized King's nomination, citing it as proof of its frequent charges of US hostility to Pyongyang.

King, who called North Korea "one of the worst abusers of human rights in the world," told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the United States could support human rights despite Pyongyang's lack of cooperation.

Besides helping refugees, King said the United States can also step up broadcasting into the reclusive state.

King also promised senators that he would support Japan in seeking more answers from North Korea over its kidnappings of Japanese civilians in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies -- a major issue in Tokyo.

"That's one of the most egregious human rights violations, to have North Koreans actually kidnapping people from Japan," King said.

The Senate is virtually certain to confirm King. He would succeed Jay Lefkowitz, who left with the end of the George W. Bush administration in January.

King was a longtime adviser to late congressman Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who became one of Washington's most forceful voices for human rights.

In that role, King helped draft the 2004 North Korea Human Rights Act which set up the special envoy position and authorized US government support for defectors.

King rejected criticism that the Obama administration has de-emphasized human rights. Obama heads next week on his first presidential trip to Asia including China, with which he has sought broader ties despite rights concerns.

King said the administration had to multi-task but was steadfast in its commitment to improving human rights worldwide.

"We were founded on fundamental principles of human rights, and our support for these rights is an essential part of who the American people are," he said.