North Korea is likely to be absent at the upcoming UN Climate Summit
on September 23rd, Radio Free Asia [RFA] reported on the 17th. The Climate
Summit will focus on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, curtailing deforestation, and increasing financial support for action on the issues.
The most recently updated list of speakers for the Summit does not include
any representatives from North Korea, though North Korea’s Foreign Minister, Ri
Su Yong, is scheduled to deliver keynote remarks during the 69th UN General
Assembly Meeting.
A source at the UN reported to RFA, “There is a possibility
that North Korea will observe the Summit, but without a speaker there, it seems
unlikely any of their officials would attend.” If North Korea fails to send a
representative to the meeting, “it will be interpreted as lack of interest by
the North to address climate change issues,” the source said.
Last February at the Sochi Winter Olympics, UN Secretary
General Ban Ki Moon met with the head of North Korea’s Supreme People’s
Assembly, Kim Young Nam, and after a long discussion, invited him to attend the
upcoming Climate Summit.
More than 120 world leaders, including South Korean
President Park Geun Hye, and U.S. President Barack Obama, are scheduled to join
the upcoming meeting on climate change, which seeks to drastically cut emissions by
the year 2020.
