DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Pak Kil Yon (L) and SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop (R) pose for a commemorative photograph prior to boarding a plane to Cambodia to attend memorial events for former King of Camobodia Norodom Sihanouk, who passed away in Beijing on 15 October 2012 (Photo: KCNA)
DPRK state media reported on 20 October (Saturday) that two delegations departed Pyongyang Airport on separate trip to Southeast Asian allies Cambodia and Vietnam. Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop (Yang Hyo’ng-sop) and DPRK Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Pak Kil Yon (Pak Kil-yo’n), along with other officials, left for a trip to Cambodia. Yang, Pak and other delegation members will “express condolences over the passing of Great King Norodom Sihanouk.” The DPRK Government has declared 23 October (Tuesday) as a national day of mourning for the former Cambodian King who passed away in Beijing on 15 October.
SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop (2nd L) shakes hands with diplomatic officials prior to departing Pyongyang Airport for Cambodia (Photo: KCNA)
SPA Presidium Vice President Yang Hyong Sop (3rd R) shakes hands with a Cambodian diplomatic official prior to departing for Cambodia (Photo: KCNA)
Ri Myong Gil (Ri Myo’ng-kil), Chairman of the Union of Agricultural Workers of Korea [UAWK], departed for Vietnam with a UAWK delegation to visit Vietnam. Ri’s visit to Vietnam appears to be a study tour of Vietnamese agricultural policy and management. It is a follow-up visit to one made in June 2012 by Korean Workers’ Party [KWP] Secretary and Director of International Affairs Kim Yong Il (Kim Yo’ng-il). During that that visit, Kim Yong Il and a DPRK delegation toured Thai Binh Province where he toured a communal farm and substantially discussed rural development and agricultural production policies with Vietnamese officials.
