President Park Geun-hye returned home Wednesday after a high-profile trip to New York for the U.N. General Assembly.

The trip culminated in a series of addresses to the U.N. where Park urged North Korea not to go ahead with a long-range rocket launch.

North Korea has defied international pressure and renewed its resolve to carry out a launch to put a satellite into orbit, calling it an exercise of its sovereign right.

There is speculation that North Korea could launch a long-range rocket in October to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party.

Another key issue was Park's pledge of US$200 million in aid to poor countries under the "Better Life for Girls" initiative as part of Seoul's efforts to boost contributions to sustainable development.

The aid is designed to help provide quality education to girls and strengthen health services for them in 15 countries, including Nepal, Senegal and Bolivia over the next five years.

On Friday, member states of the U.N. adopted a new sustainable development agenda and set 2030 as the target year for achieving the goals that call for, among other things, ending poverty, protecting the planet and providing high-quality education.

Park received a big boost as the U.N. held a high-level meeting on the "Saemaeul Movement," or the new community movement launched by her late father, then-President Park Chung-hee, in the 1970s.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Saemaeul Movement -- which is credited with helping modernize the then-rural South Korean economy - has spread in countries ranging from Asia to Africa "like a forest fire."

She briefly met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and discussed a planned trilateral summit involving China in either late October or early November.

A trilateral summit has not been held since May 2012 due to tensions in the region.

Park has also announced South Korea's plan to dispatch additional military engineers to conflict zones for reconstruction and humanitarian activities.

Park did not provide details as to the size and specific countries to which South Korea will dispatch the troops. (Yonhap)