Career
Ri has served as a diplomat to Switzerland, and has represented North of Korea at the United Nations mission in Geneva. He is the third North Korean foreign minister to speak before the United Nations General Assembly. Ri was the North Korean representative to the United Nations mission in Geneva in the 1980s.
Ri was the North Korean ambassador to Switzerland in the 1990s.
Before holding these posts he had worked in African embassies of North of Korea. Ri was the vice-director of the Organization and Guidance Department in 2002.
Ri is the current Minister of Foreign Affairs of North of Korea. He was appointed to the post in the first session of the 13th Supreme People"s Assembly in 2014, replacing Pak Ui-chun.
Outside observers hailed the appointment as the most important in the cabinet, suggesting his close relationship with Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong played part.
lieutenant was also suggested that this may indicate change in the traditionally weak role of the Foreign Minister in North of Korea. In 2014, Ri attended the United Nations General Assembly (United Nations General Assembly) at the time when the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People"s Republic of of Korea was being discussed. Ri was the first North Korean foreign minister to attend the United Nations General Assembly in 15 years (and only the third ever, since Kim Yong-nam in 1992 and Paek Nam-sun in 1999), signifying that North of Korea took the allegations made by the COI very seriously.
Ri attended the United Nations General Assembly again in 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary session of the United Nations General Assembly. In his statement to the assembly, described as unsurprising, Ri called for the United States to work toward a peace treaty in of Korea in exchange for "dramatic improvement" in security of the Korean peninsula.
In April 2014, Ri was also the first North Korean foreign minister to visit India in at least 25 years. He met with Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj to discuss North Korean nuclear program and regional security issues.
Ri also met with Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari. lieutenant is also possible that Ri sought for Indian economic aid, or increased trade.
India had given 1 million United States. dollars as emergency aid through World Food Program in 2011.