If there was any reason for people who aren’t political nerds to get excited about the upcoming Asian-African Conference in Jakarta and Bandung in April, it’s that it might have brought North Korea’s “Supreme Leader” Kim Jong Un to Jakarta for his first ever overseas diplomatic visit.
Unfortunately for those who are big fans of Kim thanks to such pop culture appearances such as the controversial Hollywood comedy flick The Interview, it looks like Kim Jong Un won’t be coming to Indonesia after all.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry First Diplomat Adityawidi told reporters that North Korea will not be represented by Kim Jong Un at the Asian-African Conference.
“North Korea is confirmed for attendance but will be represented by the president of the Supreme People’s Assembly (Kim Yong Nam),” Adityawidi said, as quoted by Liputan 6 yesterday.
But there is a slim chance that Kim Jong Un could attend the conference himself.
“Hopefully that could change at the last minute. Usually there are changes as a conference nears. We hope so,” Adityawidi said.
We hope so, too. Otherwise the Asian-African Conference will be just another boring gathering of wrinkly old politicians.
