N. Korean FM arrives in New York on rare trip

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby holds a press conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington on April 20, 2016 (local time). Kirby said there is no meeting scheduled between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong, who is visiting New York. Ri`s trip, arranged for attendance at a climate pact signing ceremony at the United Nations, is being closely watched as Pyongyang is believed to be preparing for another nuclear test.

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, April 20 (Yonhap) — North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong arrived in New York on Wednesday on his first trip to the United Nations since the communist nation sharply escalated tensions with its nuclear test in January.

Ri, who was seen in Beijing the previous day, arrived on a flight from Dubai. He is scheduled to attend Friday’s signing of a historic U.N. climate agreement, known as the “Paris Agreement,” which was adopted in December to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The trip has drawn keen media attention as it marks Ri’s first since tensions spiked following the North’s fourth nuclear test in January, its long-range rocket launch in February and the adoption of a new U.N. sanctions resolution last month.

Ri last visited New York in September to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

Speculation had arisen that the trip could provide opportunities for Ri to hold talks with U.S. officials, such as Secretary of State John Kerry amid growing concern that the North could conduct yet another nuclear test.

But the State Department dismissed such a possibility.

“There is no expectation that the secretary will meet with the North Korean foreign minister. I don’t see that happening,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a Foreign Press Center briefing.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby holds a press conference at the Foreign Press Center in Washington on April 20, 2016 (local time). Kirby said there is no meeting scheduled between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong, who is visiting New York. Ri`s trip, arranged for attendance at a climate pact signing ceremony at the United Nations, is being closely watched as Pyongyang is believed to be preparing for another nuclear test. (Yonhap)Kirby also urged the North to halt provocative acts.

“What we want to see out of the North is a concerted effort and a willingness to commit to denuclearization on the peninsula and to stop the provocative activity which we continue to see,” he said.

Kirby also urged the North not to conduct a nuclear test.

“We take these threats very seriously. Even when they just say, claim they’re going to do something. We take it at face value. It matters to us,” he said. “Just as critically, we know it matters a heck of a lot to the people in the region and to our allies in South Korea, so we have to take this stuff seriously, and we do.”

Ri could hold a meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, but U.N. officials have said that no such meeting has been fixed. Sources said the North has asked to speak at a high-level meeting of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals set for Thursday, and it remains to be seen whether Ri would speak there.

In 2014, Ri visited New York and attended the U.N. General Assembly, becoming the first North Korean foreign minister to do so in 15 years, and he again attended the General Assembly last year. But this week’s trip was seen as unusual as it does not involve General Assembly meetings.