North Korea said on the 26th that Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyeong left for New York, the United States, to attend the 80th U.N. General Assembly.
The Korean Central News Agency reported, "A delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea headed by Director General Comrade Kim Son-gyeong, vice foreign minister, left Pyongyang on the 25th to participate in the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly."
North Korea sent then-Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong to the U.N. General Assembly in 2014–2015 and then-Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho in 2016–2018, but since 2019—after the North Korea–U.S. leaders' "Hanoi no deal" during the first Donald Trump administration—Ambassador Kim Song, North Korea's permanent representative to the U.N., has delivered the address without a separate high-level delegation.
Vice Minister Kim Son-gyeong is scheduled to speak on the 29th (local time), the final day of the high-level session of the U.N. General Assembly. It is the first time in seven years that a representative sent from North Korea will deliver a speech at the U.N.