North Korea's foreign minister to attend Davos forum

NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - North Korea's foreign minister
will attend the World Economic Forum meeting in Switzerland this
month, organizers said, stepping on the international stage just
weeks after Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test in defiance of a
United Nations ban.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) said on Wednesday that Ri Su
Yong would be going to the Swiss resort town of Davos for the
gathering of the world's business and political elite from Jan.
20-23. North Korea last sent a delegation to the forum in 1998.
South Korea is sending a delegation which the WEF said would
be led by Choi Kyung-hwan. But Choi stepped down as South
Korea's finance minister on Tuesday in preparation for running
in parliamentary elections in April. It was unclear if he would
still be going to Davos.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be attending as will
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden.
On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 418-2 to
pass legislation that would broaden sanctions over North Korea's
nuclear program.
Currently there are no plans for any bilateral meetings with
the North Korean foreign minister, a spokeswoman for the WEF
said.
Ri spent two decades in Switzerland as ambassador and
representative at the United Nations in Geneva. He acted as
surrogate father to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un when Kim was
a student at a Swiss school.
Global security will loom large at the Alpine forum, which
will be attended by more than 2,500 people, including business
leaders, finance ministers, central bankers, self-made
billionaires and celebrities such as U.S. actor Leonardo
DiCaprio and Irish musician Bono.
The leaders of Argentina and Canada, both voted into office
near the end of 2015, will be attending, the WEF said. British
Prime Minister David Cameron and the Prime Minister of Israel
Benjamin Netanyahu are also expected to attend.
There will be more than 250 panel discussions and
workshops ranging from "The War on Water" to "The State of
Artificial Intelligence." The over-arching theme will be
"Mastering Fourth Industrial Revolution" to look at how
governments, companies and people can deal with and profit
from rapid changes in technology.