North Korea's foreign minister, once Kim Jong-un's guardian, makes Asia diplomacy debut
But no hoped-for talks with Japan or the United States likely on minister Ri Yu-song's visit
North Korea’s new foreign minister arrived in Myanmar’s remote capital of Naypyidaw on Saturday to make his first appearance on the regional diplomatic stage.
Ri Su-yong, who became the country’s top diplomat in April, will take part on Sunday in the Asean Regional Forum, Asia’s biggest annual security gathering, joined by his counterparts from nearly 30 countries including China, Japan, South Korea and the United States.
Ri was known as a guardian of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un when he studied at an international school in Switzerland in the 1990s.
In addition to the one-day meeting, where North Korea’s nuclear and missile programmes along with maritime tensions in the South China Sea will come under the spotlight, Ri may have informal or formal talks with the foreign ministers of China, Japan, Mongolia and Myanmar during his stay possibly through Monday, according to diplomats.
Ri’s attendance at the forum comes after North Korea recently launched a series of short-range ballistic missile tests in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.