North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son-gyong has departed Pyongyang for New York to attend the 81st session of the UN General Assembly (the annual gathering where member states address major global issues). He is scheduled to speak on the final day of the General Debate, where North Korea is expected to reaffirm its longstanding refusal to relinquish its nuclear weapons programme. The visit marks a notable diplomatic step, as Pyongyang had not sent any minister-level officials to the assembly for six years following the collapse of the 2019 Hanoi summit between Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump.