Seoul denies report on Kim’s 1st overseas trip

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, center in the back row, poses with people living on Mudo Island where an artillery unit responsible for the North’s 2010 deadly bombardment of Yeonpyeong Island is stationed in this picture released by Korean Central News Agency, Sunday. / Yonhap

By Chung Min-uck

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade denied Wednesday allegations that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will make his first overseas visit to Iran next week.

Iranian media earlier reported that Kim will make a trip to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran slated for Aug. 26 to 31 quoting NAM spokesman Mohammad-Reza Forqani. But the foreign ministry later denied the reports after checking with its diplomatic office in Iran.

“We confirmed with our overseas mission in Iran that it’s not Kim Jong-un who is attending the meeting,” said a foreign ministry official. “I guess the Iranian media misinterpreted the ‘top North Korean leader’ to mean Kim Jong-un.”

It is still unclear who will attend the international conference in Tehran on behalf of North Korea.

Many North Korean observers here put weight on Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, as he is the head of state representing external affairs under the North Korean Constitution.

Reportedly, the participants’ list to the Iran summit mentions only titles instead of names which created the confusion.

NAM consists of 120 member states that consider themselves not aligned to any major power bloc and 21 observer states. Egypt will chair this year’s summit.

According to the unification ministry, late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung attended a NAM summit in Indonesia in 1965.

Experts say it is unlikely for the 20-something North Korean leader to make his debut on the international stage in Tehran and neglect Beijing.

North Korea has been in dire need of economic assistance from its ally amid reports that the impoverished nation is facing an aggravating economic crisis. The recent flood has worsened the situation further, according to North Korea watchers.

Meanwhile, United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is reportedly planning to attend the NAM summit, despite alleged opposition from the United States.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a press briefing on Monday the U.N. chief’s possible presence at a summit hosted by Iran would “not send a good signal.”

“Iran is going to try to manipulate this NAM summit and the attendees to advance its own agenda and to obscure the fact that it is failing to live up to multiple obligations that it has to the UN Security Council, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and other international bodies,” said Nuland.

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