NK Diplomat Speech

[Anchor Lead]

Choe Son-hui, director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North America department, delivered a special lecture at Saint Petersburg State University in Russia on Monday after attending a nonproliferation conference in Moscow over the weekend. In her lecture, she stressed that North Korea wants peace but also needs self-defense capabilities in the face of nuclear threats from the U.S.

[Pkg]

Founded in 1724, Saint Petersburg State University is Russia's first university. Choe Son-hui, director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North America department, delivered a special closed lecture to the students of the university. The lecture stressed that North Korea seeks peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula as well. However, it also emphasized that it now needs deterrence to nuclear threats from the U.S.

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It is very unusual that a high-ranking North Korean Foreign Ministry official delivered a face-to-face lecture. Analysts say that the North needed to publicize and promote its stance in order to break through its diplomatic isolation and show that it had the Russian government's active support. There was also unconfirmed information that Choe would fly to Oslo, Norway, to continue semi-official, semi-civilian contact with the U.S. But it has been said that the plan was canceled at an order from above.