NEW YORK CITY – The 68th United Nations General Assembly is coming to a close in New York City, and, as has been customary since they were admitted to the UN in 1991, the North Korean leadership stayed at home.

This year, as usual, North Korea dispatched its Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Pak Kil Yon to speak to the General Assembly, where world leaders including Colonel Gadaffi, Robert Mugabe and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have all spoken over the years, despite often acrimonious relationships with their U.S. host.

No North Korean head of state has ever set foot in the U.S.,