▲ This undated Korean Central News Agency photo shows North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong (L). (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) NK vice FM-UN

(LEAD) N. Korea's vice FM to attend U.N. General Assembly: KCNA

(ATTN: UPDATES with details from 4th para; RECASTS headline, lead para; TRIMS)

By Park Boram

SEOUL, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong departed for New York to attend the ongoing United Nations General Assembly, the North's state media reported Friday.

A delegation led by Kim departed Pyongyang the previous day for the 80th U.N. General Assembly, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Kim reportedly arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport on Thursday morning aboard North Korea's flag carrier, Air Koryo, apparently en route to New York.

It marks the first time that North Korea has sent a high-level delegation to the U.N. General Assembly since 2019, when leader Kim Jong-un's last summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, ended without a deal.

From 2014 to 2018, North Korea's foreign minister -- first Ri Su-yong and later Ri Yong-ho -- attended the annual session.

Since then, Kim Song-gyong, North Korea's permanent representative to the U.N., has represented Pyongyang at the General Assembly.

The vice foreign minister is reportedly scheduled to deliver a speech Monday (local time), the final day of the general debate, marking the first address at the General Assembly by a North Korean official dispatched directly from Pyongyang in seven years.

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