For the most part, though, Paek's busy dance card will be limited to relatively short sit-downs.

CNN: Relegated to the Sidelines?

To test out this idea, Paek simulated the asteroid Apophis, which will pass nearby the Earth in 2029.

FORBES: An Earth-Killing Asteroid Could Be Deflected With Paintballs

Now here was Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun, slightly unnerved by the attention, but at least present to enter the debate.

CNN: Star Treatment

Even Madeleine Albright, America's secretary of state, failed to gather any information about the purported offer during her meeting with Mr Paek in Bangkok.

ECONOMIST: The Koreas

That, at least, is the conclusion of MIT grad student Sung Wook Paek, who won the 2012 Move an Asteroid Technical Paper Competition with his proposal.

FORBES: An Earth-Killing Asteroid Could Be Deflected With Paintballs

That's what happened when Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun flew in to attend a July 27 meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the seven-year-old security panel in which Pyongyang would participate for the first time.

CNN: Relegated to the Sidelines?

Paek also seemed impatient to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was set to arrive in the Thai capital on July 28, delayed by her duties at the failed Israeli-Palestinian talks at Camp David.

CNN: Relegated to the Sidelines?