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North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Su-yong

North Korea’s foreign minister is visiting New York next week to attend a signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on climate change.

US Secretary of State John Kerry will also be attending the event. While the chances of a meeting between Kerry and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong appear slim, a meeting between Ri and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is looking more likely.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced on Apr. 11 that Ri would be attending the ceremony on Apr. 22. The event is for the signing of an agreement on the new climate change system for the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP21) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The agreement was adopted last December in Paris during the conference, which Ri also attended.

Currently, no back-channel negotiation activity has been reported between the US and North Korea to possibly put together a meeting between Kerry and Ri. General practice typically entails working-level talks to build trust before minister-level meetings can occur, and relations between Pyongyang and Washington are not in a state where an immediate meeting would be possible.

North Korea also continues to focus on discussing a peace agreement while contending that denuclearization is not up for negotiation. The US has countered that a peace agreement cannot be discussed without concrete steps toward denuclearization from Pyongyang.

Speaking at a press conference following a meeting with the ministers of the G7 countries in Japan on Apr. 11, Kerry said the US had “made it clear that we are prepared to negotiate a peace treaty on the peninsula. We are prepared to negotiate a non-aggression agreement.”

“But it all depends on the North making the decision that they will negotiate denuclearization,” he added.

The US government’s decision to grant visas to Ri and the rest of his delegation was seen as a sign that it is attempting to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. For Pyongyang’s part, the decision to send Ri to New York may have been part of an attempt to stabilize foreign relations ahead of next month’s Workers’ Party congress.

A meeting between Ri and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon does appear possible. Ri previously met with Ban in 2014 and again last year while visiting New York to attend a general meeting of the UN. Ri also proposed a North Korea visit by Ban during their 2015 meeting.

By Yi Yong-in, Washington correspondent

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]