File footage show Ri Yong Ho who is reportedly appointed foreign minister in North Korea

Record ID: 103158

  • Title: File footage show Ri Yong Ho who is reportedly appointed foreign minister in North Korea
  • Date: 17th May 2016
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (FILE - JANUARY 19, 2015) (REUTERS) ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VICE FOREIGN MINISTER AND CHIEF NEGOTIATOR FOR THE SIX-PARTY TALKS, RI YONG HO, ARRIVING AT NEWS CONFERENCE RI SPEAKING RI GETTING UP AND WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 1st June 2016 09:10
  • Keywords: North Korea foreign minister Ri Yong Ho Pyongyang politics
  • Location: BEIJING, CHINA
  • City: BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: North Korea
  • Topics: Lawmaking,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0024I73LTX
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: North Korea, diplomatically isolated and squeezed by U.N. sanctions, has appointed as foreign minister its negotiator at failed international talks aimed at getting it to disarm, according to a North Korean diplomatic note to Britain, seen by Reuters on Tuesday (May 17).
    Ri Yong Ho, 59, replaces Ri Su Yong, who has been one of the highest-profile officials of a country whose current leader, Kim Jong Un, has not traveled abroad since taking power following the death of his father in 2011.
    Ri Yong Ho, most recently vice foreign minister, represented North Korea at six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program, which fell apart after their last round in 2008.
    China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States were the other parties to the talks.
    Ri, a former ambassador to Britain, is likely to be responsible for making North Korea's case at the United Nations.
    The U.N. Security Council in March imposed tough new sanctions against North Korea in response to its fourth nuclear test in January and the launch of a long-range rocket the next month.
    North Korean state media has not announced Ri's appointment. North Korea has been isolated for decades but recently even its main ally, China, has been growing increasingly frustrated with it over its nuclear ambitions, which China disapproves of. China backed the tighter U.N. sanctions in March.
    Outgoing foreign minister Ri, 76, a well-traveled career diplomat, was named a member of the politburo during a recent congress of the ruling Workers' Party.
  • Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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