World

North Korea Sends Vice Foreign Minister to UN General Assembly

Should the world take a tougher approach with North Korea or attempt patient diplomacy?

Published SEP 23

North Korea Sends Vice Foreign Minister to UN General Assembly

Story

Above: A delegation from North Korea led by Kim Son Gyong, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, leaves Pyongyang International Airport on Sept. 22. Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Facts

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong departed Pyongyang on Tuesday, leading a delegation to New York for the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Wednesday.
KCNA
The KCNA's report did not disclose details of Kim's itinerary. Nevertheless, it stated that officials from the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw off the delegation as it left Pyongyang International Airport.
KCNA
Under the U.N.'s provisional list of speakers, Kim is scheduled to speak on Monday, the final day of the General Debate, the annual high-level segment in which U.N. member states set out their positions on major international issues.
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Yonhap News Agency
UN
Kim previously attended the 80th session, which he addressed on Sept. 29, 2025, where he claimed that imposing denuclearization on North Korea would amount to demanding it surrender sovereignty, adding that the country had written nuclear weapons into its constitution.
UN
Before that, Pyongyang did not send a minister-level official to the General Assembly for six years after the 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump ended without agreement. Ambassador Kim Song served as its representative instead.
The Korea Times
Korea JoongAng Daily
Kim's departure came days after the North Korean Foreign Ministry rejected an IAEA General Conference resolution adopted Sept. 17 reaffirming that the country can't have nuclear weapons status under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
KCNA
IAEA

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Decades of talks and sweeteners have never gotten a single warhead out of Pyongyang. It's time for the international community to take harsher measures and remind North Korea that its nuclear program is a burden, rather than a boon. This requires the U.N. and others to back sustained pressure, hard deterrence and negotiating from strength to end this threat.

NK PRO

The Korea Times

Narrative B

Demands, sanctions and bluster have produced decades of nothing, all while Pyongyang has built up its nuclear arsenal and forged deeper ties with Moscow and Beijing. The U.N. and its member states must take a different approach, starting with ordinary diplomacy, phased limits and practical cooperation, while keeping disarmament as the long-term goal.

Foreign Policy

Korea Economic Institute of America