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Events
Mongolian president invites Kim Jong Un to visit whenever ‘comfortable’ www.nknews.org
Mongolia has invited Kim Jong Un to visit “at a comfortable time,” state-run media reported Sunday, less than two weeks after South Korean foreign minister Park Jin visited the country and called for more robust ties between Seoul and Ulaanbaatar.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Sunday that President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh extended the request in a letter to the North Korean leader marking DPRK’s founding anniversary last week.
“Mutual top-level and high-level visits are of important significance in improving bilateral relations and strengthening political trust,” Khurelsukh reportedly wrote, inviting Kim Jong Un to the Central Asian country for a “warm and friendly conversation.”
The Mongolian president suggested Kim come “at a comfortable time” once the COVID-19 pandemic situation is “resolved,” adding that he would be interested in visiting Pyongyang as well.
The letter was carried in the domestic-facing Rodong Sinmun newspaper on Monday morning as well, but neither KCNA nor the paper stated whether Kim wrote back to Khurelsukh or whether he plans to accept the invitation.
A number of dignitaries have visited Mongolia in recent months, including the U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, South Korean foreign minister Park Jin, U.S. Assistant Secretary of the State Department Daniel Kritenbrink in August, as well as Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi in April.
The U.N. secretary-general visited Mongolia as part of a trip to promote nuclear nonproliferation, noting Ulaanbaatar’s close ties with Pyongyang.
Meanwhile, Park carried a letter from South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol to President Khurelsukh calling Mongolia an “important” economic and democratic partner in the region. The foreign minister also said Seoul would like to bolster cooperation with resource-rich Ulaanbaatar to “stabilize and diversify the supply chain.”
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov also visited the country in July, and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi visited the following month.
FRIEND TO ALL
Mongolia maintains a friendly relationship with both Koreas and has hosted high-level meetings with and about North Korea in the past. Mongolia is one of the last remaining countries staffing its embassy in Pyongyang and sends regular congratulatory and other messages to Kim Jong Un to mark various DPRK events.
The Central Asian country also offered to host the first summit between Kim and Donald Trump in 2018, and multiple media reports at the time suggested Mongolia was one of the finalists to host the meeting. Former President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj described Mongolia then as “neutral territory” that has helped facilitate meetings between the DPRK and other countries.
North Korean and Mongolian officials engaged in working-level talks to discuss the option before Singapore was ultimately decided as the location of the first-ever U.S.-DPRK summit.
On March 16, 2018, then-Chief of Staff of the Office of the President of Mongolia Z. Enkhbold met DPRK Ambassador O Sung Ho to discuss Mongolia potentially hosting the 2018 U.S.-DPRK summit meeting | Image: Mongolia Presidential Office
The last time North Korean state media reported that a Mongolian leader invited Kim Jong Un to Ulaanbaatar was in Oct. 2018. Then-Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elebegdorj visited Pyongyang in Oct. 2013, although he did not meet Kim Jong Un.
The Mongolian president visited the DPRK in 2004 as well, meeting the then-nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam at the time instead of Kim Jong Il. North Korea’s founding leader, Kim Il Sung, visited Mongolia in 1956 and 1988.
Edited by Arius Derr
Published Date:2022-09-13
