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

SEOUL, April 25 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se will attend a U.N. Security Council meeting on North Korea to be chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson this week, the foreign ministry here said Tuesday.

The ministerial meeting on Friday in New York will bring together U.S. 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 U.N. secretary-general and Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state, to discuss ways to denuclearize the North.

pbr@yna.co.kr
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