Sin Son-ho ( ko, 신선호; ; born July 5, 1948) is a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

who has been North Korea's Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2008 to February 2014, until he was replaced by Ja Song-nam."NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS"
United Nations, May 7, 2008 In his career as a diplomat, he has primarily represented North Korea in its relations with

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n countries.

Diplomatic career

Sin graduated from

Kim Il-sung University Kim Il-sung University, founded on 1 October 1946, is the first university built in North Korea. It is located on a campus in Pyongyang, the nation's capital. Along with the main academic buildings, the campus contains 10 separate offices, 50 l ...

in 1972. That same year, he was appointed as Third Secretary to the North Korean

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, where he served until 1979. From 1979 to 1983, he was a senior officer in the Foreign Ministry, then, from 1983 to 1986, counsellor at the North Korean embassy to

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

. From 1986 to 1990, he was Division Chief at the Foreign Ministry, before serving as counsellor to the North Korean embassy in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

from 1990 to 1995. From 1995 to 1999, he was Deputy-Director of the Foreign Ministry. Sin's first appointment to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

came in 1999, when he worked at the North Korean Mission to the United Nations for four years before returning home upon being appointed Director-General of the

Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. He served in the latter position until May 2008, when he was appointed Permanent Representative to the United Nations. In his latter role, Sin has been tasked with expressing North Korea's positions on the issue of his country's nuclear activities. In October 2008, Sin told a session of the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

that North Korea had developed nuclear weapons in response to the threat it perceived from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but that it had begun dismantling its nuclear apparatus and that it supported the "denuclearisation of the Korean peninsular". Sin added that his country wished for a peace agreement to replace the 55-year-old Korean War armistice, and that North Korea hoped for the eventual

reunification of Korea Korean reunification () is the potential reunification of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea into a single Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification was started by the June 15th North–South Joi ...

. He has denied that North Korea has a

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

problem.

References

} {{DEFAULTSORT:Sin, Son Ho North Korean diplomats 1948 births Living people Permanent Representatives of North Korea to the United Nations Place of birth missing (living people) Kim Il Sung University alumni