North Korea appoints Kim Song as new ambassador to United Nations
Kim had previously been posted in New York as a counsellor with the country’s mission; his predecessor, Ja Song-nam, left at the end of July
North Korea has formally named Kim Song as its new ambassador to the United Nations, a position that has been vacant for more than a month, state media reported Thursday. The appointment came after he recently received his visa to begin work at his post in New York.
Because his visa was not issued soon after his application in late May, there was talk that the United States was intentionally delaying the process amid slow progress in denuclearisation talks with North Korea.
Kim had previously been posted in New York as a counsellor with the country’s mission.
His predecessor, Ja Song-nam, left at the end of July after having served as North Korea’s top representative at the UN headquarters since February 2014.
The White House said Monday that Washington is looking at a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after the latter made a written request for such a meeting.
In the first-ever US-North Korea summit, Kim committed to “complete” denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. But Pyongyang has yet to provide a full inventory of its nuclear weapons and fissile materials, as Washington has demanded.
Watch: North Korea shifts diplomatic strategy
Nor has North Korea presented a road map for denuclearisation, except for Kim saying recently he hopes to achieve denuclearisation before the end of Trump’s first term in January 2021.
The North, for its part, has insisted that the United States first declare a formal end to the Korean war, which was halted with an armistice rather than a peace treaty in 1953.
