It was the first time North Korea had dispatched an official from Pyongyang to address the annual gathering of world leaders for the General Assembly since the country's foreign minister traveled to New York in 2018, News.Az reports citing foreign media. Under any circumstances, we will never walk away from this position," the vice foreign minister told the U.N. General Assembly. North Korea has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006, and the measures have been steadily strengthened over the years with the aim of halting Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. But Russia and China now insist that U.N. sanctions on North Korea should be eased on humanitarian grounds and in a bid to convince Pyongyang to restart negotiations. Russia has also forged closer diplomatic and military ties with North Korea since invading Ukraine in February 2022 and Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim have visited each other's countries.