Recently, North Korea appointed Choe Son Hui as the country's first female foreign minister. Choe Son Hui himself is a senior diplomat as well as a leading nuclear negotiator. Previously, he served as deputy foreign minister, replacing his predecessor, Ri Son Gwon.
Choe Son Hui was appointed foreign minister at the plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea from June 8-10, 2022, overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, CNN quoted KCNA media as saying. He was appointed foreign minister during a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) took place.
His appointment comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula, as North Korea has aggressively stepped up its weapons testing program in defiance of United Nations (UN) sanctions.
Profile of Choe Son Hui, North Korea's First Female Foreign Minister
Choe Son Hui was born in Pyongyang, North Korea in 1964. She is the daughter of the former prime minister of North Korea, Choe Yong Rim, as quoted by CNN from South Korea's Ministry of Unification data.
Choe Son Hui first appeared in the media in 1997 as a translator for the North Korean delegation in the four-party nuclear negotiations. He re-joined negotiations during the six-party talks in the 2000s.
Choe played a key role during North Korea's summit with the United States. He led an aggressive negotiation effort aimed at the US leadership of former President Donald Trump.
At the meeting, Choe held a press conference and a question and answer session after the US and North Korea failed to reach an agreement in February 2019. He blamed Washington for the failure.
"I think the United States has missed a golden opportunity by rejecting our proposal," Choe said at the time, quoted by CNN Indonesia.
He also accompanied Kim Jong Un to summits in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi a year later. Seen the woman sitting next to Kim Jong Un at the negotiating table.
In his last statement in March last year, he demanded the US stop its "hostile policy" towards North Korea, including its joint exercises with South Korea.
For information, Pyongyang has conducted missile tests many times during 2022. Seeing North Korea which is increasingly intensively developing its nuclear program, the United States and South Korea are worried. They warned that if Pyongyang resumed missile tests, especially intercontinental missiles, there would be a swift and strong response.