Pak Kil-yon

Infobox Korean name
context=north
hangul=박길연
hanja=朴吉淵
mr=Pak Kiryŏn
rr=Bak Gil-yeon

Pak Kil-yon (b. 1943, Chagang) is a North Korean diplomat. He has served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations since 2001, and also as ambassador to Canada since 2002. His rhetoric is similar to that of Kim Jong-il, his head of state, including calls to prevent Japan from obtaining a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Pak is a graduate of Pyongyang University of International Affairs. He has served in the North Korean diplomatic corps since 1969, when he was Consul to the embassy in Myanmar. He subsequently served in Singapore, and then domestically as the director-general of the American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thereafter he was named chief representative for the North Korean UN mission in 1985. He subsequently served as ambassador to countries including Colombia and Cambodia, before taking his present post.

Pak has been a delegate to the 8th, 9th and 11th sessions of the Supreme People's Assembly. He was awarded the Order of Kim Il-sung in 1992.

On May 13, 2005, Pak Kil-yon met with Joseph DeTrani, a special envoy for the United States, to discuss a North Korean return to "six-party talks" on North Korean nuclear proliferation. This meeting was the first between US and North Korean officials in six months.

Following the 2006 North Korean nuclear test, Pak made headlines when he said that the United Nations should "congratulate" his country's scientists and researchers on their achievement, instead of issuing what he called "notorious, useless and reckless resolutions." [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/09/korea.nuclear.test/index.html] Following the United Nations Security Council's imposition of sanctions on North Korea, Pak called the Council's actions "gangster-like" and stormed out of the chamber [http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/14/nkorea.sanctions/index.html] . This led to then-U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations John Bolton replying that that action was the equivalent of Nikita Khruschev pounding his shoe at the United Nations.

ee also

*Politics of North Korea

References

*Yonhap News Agency. "Who's who, North Korea," pp. 787-812 in cite book|author=Yonhap News Agency|year=2004|title=Korea Annual 2004|location=Seoul | publisher=Author|id=ISBN 89-7433-070-9

External links

* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=WRCLWVBTSAUX1QFIQMGCFFOAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/10/12/wnkorea112.xml]
* [http://nk.chosun.com/english/database/database.html?ACT=p_detail&id=49 NKChosun profile]
* [http://english.people.com.cn/200503/09/eng20050309_176130.html DPRK envoy objects Japan's bid for permanent council membership]
* [http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15407123-401,00.html China warns North Korea over nuclear tests]

Persondata
NAME=Pak Kil-yon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Pak Gil Yon, 박길연, 朴吉淵
SHORT DESCRIPTION=North Korean diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH=Chagang, North Korea
PLACE OF BIRTH=1943
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=