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AFP
NEW YORK
NORTH Korea and Iran will dominate this week's gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, where President Donald Trump will be in the spotlight as he continues to upend global diplomacy.
After warming up to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and ditching the Iran nuclear deal, the unpredictable Trump takes the podium on Tuesday to face foes and increasingly uneasy allies at the UN General Assembly.
On Wednesday, he will for the first time chair a Security Council meeting on non-proliferation and weapons of mass destruction that will focus heavily on Iran -- likely triggering a clash with other big powers.
"It will be the most watched Security Council meeting ever,"US Ambassador Nikki Haley said of Trump's first time wielding the gavel.
The diplomatic gathering will take stock of the thaw in relations between North and South Korea, and groundbreaking US-North Korea moves to address the threat from Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Last year, world leaders shuddered when Trump threatened to totally destroy North Korea and belittled Kim as"Rocket Man"who was"on a suicide mission."
An exchange of insults ensued, with Kim calling out the"mentally deranged US dotard."
Trump's address to the assembly will be the"polar opposite of what we heard last year,"said Suzanne DiMaggio, an expert on North Korea and Iran at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Despite the Trump-Kim landmark summit in Singapore, there has been little concrete progress on denuclearisation.
