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GERMANY-NKOREA-DIPLOMACY-DEFENCE
North Korea to make Munich Security Conference debut in 2020
BERLIN, Jan 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – North Korea will send a delegation to
the Munich Security Conference for the first time in the 56-year history of
the top diplomatic gathering, organisers said Thursday.
An MSC spokesperson confirmed that North Korean vice foreign minister
Kim Son Gyong would attend next month’s event.
The announcement comes a month after Pyongyang declared it was
abandoning moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile
tests.
The self-imposed ban on tests had been the centrepiece of two years of
nuclear diplomacy between the US and North Korea, including three meetings
between the two countries’ leaders Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.
Also expected to attend the Munich talks this year are US Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the leader of the House
of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
The Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is likewise expected
to attend.
Founded in 1963, the Munich Security Conference hosts hundreds of high-
ranking officials and dozens of world leaders each year to discuss security
challenges.
The 2020 edition will be held from February 14 to 16.
The programme and full list of participants is to be published in the
coming weeks.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1745 hrs