N. Korean foreign minister to speak at the UN

Posted on : 2014-09-01 11:57 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Late September appearance appears to be part of an active diplomatic push by Ri Su-yong

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

North Korea’s foreign minister is scheduled to give a keynote speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in late September.

According to UN sources, foreign minister Ri Su-yong, 79, is registered to deliver the speech on Sept. 30, the last day of the General Assembly period that begins on Sept. 24.

If Ri does attend and give the speech as scheduled, it would be the first US visit by a North Korean foreign minister in fifteen years. His decision to give a speech before the assembly is seen as unusual, as such duties have typically been handled by deputy ministers for the UN in the past. The only foreign ministers to deliver keynote speeches in the past were Deputy Prime Minister Kim Yong-nam in 1992, the year after North Korea joined the UN, and Paek Nam-sun in 1999.

Ri’s unexpected UN appearance could be an attempt at a breakthrough in relations with Washington. But the prospects for a meeting with the US or any other event appear unlikely, given the chilly state of relations right now and the fact that the North Korean foreign minister is not in charge of duties related to the North’s nuclear issues.

“If North Korea and the US had wanted to hold foreign ministers’ talks, the ASEAN Regional Forum in mid-August would have been a much better stage than the UN General Assembly,” said a diplomatic source in Washington, adding that US relations and the nuclear issue are handled in the North Korean Foreign Ministry by First Vice Minister Kim Kye-gwan and Vice Minister Ri Yong-ho, not by Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong.

Many foreign affairs observers in Washington and New York said Ri’s visit looked to be part of an aggressive diplomatic strategy in Pyongyang.

“Ri has been much more proactive in his diplomatic efforts than his predecessors,” said one diplomatic source on condition of anonymity.

“He’s most likely going to use the general assembly keynote speech and bilateral talks to actively promote Pyongyang’s position,” the source predicted. Ri was also made a proactive diplomacy push around the time of the ASEAN Regional Forum, visiting not only host county Myanmar but also Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia.

Meetings between the US, North Korean and South Korean foreign ministers have not been scheduled, but it’s possible that they could encounter each other at the UN assembly.

 

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