S. Korea's top diplomat to attend UN meeting on N. Korea this week

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will attend a UN Security Council meeting on North Korea to be chaired by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week, Yonhap news agency quoted the foreign ministry here as saying Tuesday.

The ministerial meeting on Friday in New York will bring together UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and officials from the council's 15 members, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"It is the first-ever meeting to be held on the issue of denuclearization of a particular country in the history of the UNSC," ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said.

The meeting "clearly shows the seriousness and the gravity that the Trump administration and the entire UNSC, including China and Russia, are attaching to the North Korean nuclear issue," he said.

During the meeting, Yun plans to appeal for the UNSC's "pre-emptive and proactive" response to North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. He will also stress that the North Korean programs pose the most urgent and serious threat to the peace and security of the international community, according to the spokesman.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Yun will also hold talks with the UN secretary-general and Henry Kissinger, former US secretary of state, to discuss ways to denuclearize the North.

Source: MENA