Report of Kim Jong-un's Iran trip likely misleading: Seoul

A news report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un plans to visit Iran next week to attend an international meeting seems to be misleading although Seoul is still working to verify it, a government official said Wednesday.

German news agency DPA reported earlier that Kim would attend the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran from Aug. 26 to 31, citing local news media.

"Findings through various diplomatic channels to Iran have shown so far that it is not a fact," the Seoul official said on condition of anonymity.

The name of Kim Jong-un is being circulated among Iranian news media, but they may have mistakenly interpreted the mention of a visit by a "North Korean leader" to mean him, he said.

Another official at the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean issues, raised the possibility that Iranian media confused Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state, and Kim Jong-il, the de facto leader.

If the Iran government said "the top North Korean leader" will attend, it could mean Kim Yong-nam, the official said, referring to the title, rather than a name, listed as an attendee for the Iran summit.

"Under the North Korean Constitution, the head of state externally representing the North is Kim Yong-nam, the president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly," the Unification Ministry official said.

The ministry does not rule out the possibility of a visit by Kim Jong-un, he said. If so, it would be the 20-something leader's first foreign trip since coming to power in December.

North Korea seems to have not submitted a specific identification of who will attend the summit beyond the given title, another government source said, adding, "for now, Kim Jong-un's attendance does not seem very likely."

The NAM consists of 120 member states and 21 observer states that consider themselves not aligned to any major power bloc.

Late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung attended a NAM summit in Indonesia in 1965, but Kim Yong-nam attended subsequent meetings held every four month. (Yonhap News)