UNITED NATIONS (AFP): A North Korean minister said on Monday in a rare address to the UN that Pyongyang would never surrender its nuclear weapons but left open the door to diplomacy. Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Kim Son Gyong made the trip to New York to attend the United Nation’s annual high-level week — a role previously performed at a lower level by the country’s ambassador. “We will never give up nuclear which is our state law, national policy and sovereign power as well as the right to existence. North Korea, which conducted its first nuclear test in 2006 is under rafts of UN sanctions for its banned weapons programs. South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung vowed Tuesday at the United Nations to work to end the “vicious cycle” of tensions with the North as he promised not to seek regime change.