North Korea plans to hold a meeting of its top envoys to foreign countries next week for the first time in five years amid escalating geopolitical tension over the North's recent test-firing of seven missiles, sources here said Saturday.
It was not immediately known why Pyongyang organized the meeting and whether the decision was hurriedly made after the missile launches last week, they added.
The last meeting of the North Korean representatives to foreign nations was in July 2001, the third such one since Kim Jong-il took power in 1994.
The North Korean missile issue has reached a critical moment, with the United Nations Security Council discussing the level of punishment against Pyongyang.
A high-level Chinese delegation to Pyongyang raised hopes for a breakthrough in the stalled negotiations aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, but its activity in Pyongyang this week has ended in failure.
Seoul, July 15 (Yonhap News)
N. Korean envoys abroad to gather in Pyongyang next week |
