U.N. Political Chief, N. Korean Foreign Minister Meet

PYONGYANG, N.Korea, -Dec. 7: The U.N. political affairs chief received a warm welcome on Thursday as he held talks with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs likely high on the agenda."I would give an enthusiastic welcome to your Pyongyang visit," Ri,North Korea's former top nuclear negotiator who became foreign minister last year, told U.N. Undersecretary General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.The rare trip to North Korea by a high-ranking U.N. official comes as tensions continue to mount in the region after the country test-fired a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that it says is capable of striking anywhere in the United States.Feltman, a former senior U.S. State Department official, arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday for a five-day visit. He is the most senior U.N. official to visit North Korea in more than six years.North Korea invited Feltman for a "policy dialogue" when Ri was in New York in September for the U.N. General Assembly, according to a U.N. spokesman.When North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump were exchanging personal insults and threats of war, Ri told reporters that his country could test a powerful hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.Feltman's trip is being closely watched to see whether it will influence North Korea to curb its incendiary behavior and draw the United Nations into a role as mediator in the increasingly tense situation, especially between Pyongyang and Washington.