N. Korea to send new deputy foreign minister to U.N. assembly

By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will dispatch its new deputy foreign minister Pak Gil-yon to the United Nations General Assembly meeting next week, a diplomatic source here said Tuesday.

Pak, Pyongyang's former top envoy to the U.N., was assigned to the post a few
months ago, replacing Choe Su-heon who was tapped as its ambassador to Syria.

"(North Korean) Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun is unlikely to attend the
meeting. Instead, Pak Gil-yon, who is in charge of the ministry's affairs on
international organizations, plans to deliver a keynote speech during the session
to begin next Tuesday in New York," the source said. "The exact date
for his speech has yet to be fixed."

His speech is likely to focus on attacking Washington's delay in the agreed-upon
process of taking the communist nation off the list of terrorism sponsors,
according to the source.

Meanwhile, South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo is to lead the country's
delegation to the annual U.N. session.

Han is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech next Thursday on food security,
climate change, human rights concerns, U.N. reform, and other global issues, his
office said.

lcd@yna.co.kr

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