UN political chief makes rare visit to North Korea amid heightened tensions

Jeffrey Feltman will undertake a four-day visit to North Korea
AFP/Getty Images
Tom Powell5 December 2017

The UN political chief is heading to North Korea for a rare four-day visit amid fears over the country's nuclear threat.

Jeffrey Feltman will arrive in Pyongyang today for a wide-ranging “policy dialogue”, following an invite by the country in September.

His current schedule includes meetings with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, Vice Minister Pak Myong Guk, diplomats and UN staff. It is not known whether he will meet leader Kim Jong-Un.

It comes a week after North Korea tested its “most powerful” missile yet, claiming the new weapon is capable of reaching anywhere on the US mainland.

Jeffrey Feltman arrives to take a flight for North Korea at the International Airport of Beijing
AFP/Getty Images

Mr Kim and US president Donald Trump have traded insults as tensions between the two countries continue to escalate.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly in September, Mr Trump threatened "to totally destroy North Korea" if the US is forced to defend itself or its allies and he later tweeted that Mr Kim - whom he called "little rocket man" - "won't be around much longer".

The North Korean leader responded to the Mr Trump by promising to "tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire", and Foreign Minister Ri called Mr Trump's tweet a "declaration of war" and said that North Korea has the right to retaliate and shoot down US bombers.

Mr Trump announced on November 20 that the United States was returning North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism and promised to intensify a campaign of "maximum pressure" and sanctions as part of a rolling effort to compel Kim's government to negotiate over its nuclear program.

Mr Feltman's visit comes as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres prepares to brief a Security Council ministerial meeting on December 15 about North Korea that was called by Japan, which holds the council presidency this month.

Japan's UN Ambassador Koro Bessho said the meeting will focus on finding peaceful ways to pressure North Korea to halt its nuclear and ballistic missile tests and denuclearise the Korean peninsula.

Mr Dujarric said Mr Feltman was informally invited to visit North Korea during the annual gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly in September, presumably by foreign minister Ri who attended the session. But he said the invitation wasn't issued until November 30.

Mr Feltman is the highest-ranking American in the UN Secretariat, after serving for nearly 30 years in the US Foreign Service where his last post was as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs.

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