Seoul, Sep 5 — North Korea is expected to send a Vice Minister-level official to the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York, with Kim Son-gyong, a Vice Foreign Minister in charge of international organisations, likely to deliver a speech, sources said Saturday.
According to the list of speakers updated by the UN Secretariat, a North Korean Vice Minister-level official is scheduled to represent the country and deliver a speech at the UN headquarters on September 28, the final day of the high-level segment of the 81st UN General Assembly.
The general debate of this year's UN General Assembly is scheduled to take place from September 22-26 and on September 28, Yonhap News Agency reported.
North Korea has several vice foreign ministers, but diplomatic sources believe Kim, who is in charge of international organisations, is likely to attend, as he did last year.
Last year, Kim led a North Korean delegation to the General Assembly for the first time in seven years.
From 2019 through 2024, Pyongyang did not send a high-level official to the General Assembly following the failed 2019 Hanoi summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Instead, Kim Song, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, delivered its General Assembly speeches.
Attention is expected to focus on what message North Korea will deliver at the UN this year, as Trump has expressed his willingness to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year.
Meanwhile, the United States' policy on North Korea remains unchanged, a White House official said Tuesday, while reaffirming Trump's openness to dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un "without any preconditions."
The official made the remarks in response to Yonhap News Agency's question about whether the White House has been seriously preparing for a potential Trump-Kim summit, amid questions about whether Trump would continue to pursue the North's denuclearisation or shift toward goals short of denuclearisation, such as tension reduction.
"US policy on North Korea has not changed. President Trump remains open to talking with Kim Jong-un without any preconditions," the official said in an email.