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'Low profile' multilateralism: North Korea's hidden avenues to the world

A U.S.-North Korea summit could expand a little-known aspect of a tightly controlled and secretive nation: North Korea's extensive involvement with international organizations.

North Korean U.N. Ambassador So Se Pyong speaks to reporters at a news conference in 2014 at his country’s mission in Geneva.
North Korean U.N. Ambassador So Se Pyong speaks to reporters at a news conference in 2014 at his country’s mission in Geneva. (AN/J. Heilprin)

WASHINGTON (AN) — A peace treaty and nuclear disarmament on the Korean Peninsula would expand one of North Korea's most important conduits to the world besides China: its sizable but little-known involvement with international organizations.

That would be a key outcome if the summit in Singapore between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, and U.S. President Donald Trump leads towards denuclearization, peace and a withdrawal of the international sanctions weighing on North Korea's moribund economy.

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