President Park Geun-hye is set to leave for New York Friday for talks with world leaders on sustainable development, climate change and other challenges facing the world.
  

Park is set to address the U.N. summit for sustainable development on Saturday, a day after she arrives in New York, according to Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office.
  

The summit is designed to adopt the post-2015 development agenda, a follow-up to the Millennium Development Goals meant to eradicate extreme poverty, reduce child mortality and achieve universal primary education.
  

Park also plans to attend a luncheon meeting with her counterparts from major countries on climate change. The meeting is designed to drum up support for a deal on cutting down greenhouse gases at the U.N. Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris later this year.
  

In June, South Korea offered to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 37 percent by 2030 from 850.6 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents, an amount Seoul says it would reach if it lets business run as usual.
  

On Sunday, Park is set to hold two separate summits with her counterparts from Pakistan and Denmark on the sidelines.
 
 
Park also plans to address the U.N. General Assembly and attend a separate U.N. summit on peacekeeping operations.
  

Park appears likely to mention North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons programs during her speech as North Korea has ratcheted up fresh tensions with those programs.
  

North Korea has recently vowed to launch a series of satellites, seen by Seoul and Washington as a cover for testing its ballistic missile technology.
  

North Korea did not provide any specific time frame for the satellite launches, but there is speculation that it may launch a long-range rocket in October to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.
  

The North also suggested that it may conduct a nuclear test in response to what it claims is the hostile policy of the United States and other hostile forces.
  

North Korea agreed to scrap its nuclear programs in exchange for diplomatic concessions and economic aid under a landmark 2005 deal with the United States, South Korea, China, Russia and Japan.
  

Still, the North later backtracked from its commitment and conducted nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013, drawing international condemnation and U.N. sanctions. (Yonhap)