Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Choe Son Hui, a senior nuclear negotiator, was named North Korea's new foreign minister on Saturday, ...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Choe Son Hui, a senior nuclear negotiator, was named North Korea's new foreign minister on Saturday, state media reported, as the country ended a governing party meeting presided over by leader Kim Jong Un.
State news agency KCNA reported that Kim announced plans to increase the country's military force and defence research to safeguard North Korea's sovereign rights, but did not provide specifics.
"The right to self-defense is a problem of safeguarding sovereignty," Kim was reported as stating by the KCNA. "This clarifies the Party's invariable battling philosophy of power for power and head-on contest."
KCNA reported that the Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was held from Wednesday to Friday.
The nomination comes at a time when the United States has warned that North Korea is ready to conduct a seventh nuclear test and has stated that it will once again advocate for United Nations sanctions if this occurs.
Wednesday, U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan stated that the United States continues to monitor "extremely closely" the likelihood of a North Korean nuclear test.
On Saturday, the defence minister of South Korea, Lee Jong-sup, and the defence secretary of the United States, Lloyd Austin, are slated to meet at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
