Presidential Office: "Yoon Accepts Chief Kim's Resignation After Deep Deliberation"
President Yoon Suk-yeol on the 29th appointed Cho Tae-yong, the ambassador to the United States, as the successor to Kim Sung-han, the National Security Office chief who resigned.
Kim Eun-hye, the chief spokesperson, held a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office in the afternoon and stated, "President Yoon has decided to accept Chief Kim's resignation after careful consideration today."
The newly appointed National Security Office chief Cho was born in Seoul in 1956, graduated from Gyeonggi High School, majored in political science at Seoul National University, and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 after passing the 14th Foreign Service Examination.
In 1993, he served as the first secretary at the Embassy in the U.S., then worked as the head of the North America Division 2 and Division 1 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. In 2002, he became the North America Division 2 counselor, in 2004 the head of the North Korean nuclear task force (TF), and from 2006 served as the director of the North America Bureau.
Notably, during the Park Geun-hye administration, in May 2013, he was appointed as the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Korea Peace Negotiation Headquarters, overseeing practical policies related to North Korean nuclear issues. He also served as the first vice minister of foreign affairs in 2014 and as the first deputy director of the National Security Office in 2015. He has work experience as a partner with current Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who served as Deputy Secretary of State under the Barack Obama administration.
In early April last year, as a member of President-elect Yoon’s Korea-U.S. policy consultation delegation, he visited the United States, and upon the start of President Yoon’s term, he was appointed ambassador to the U.S.
Chief Kim added, "The successor to the ambassador to the U.S. will be promptly decided, and agrement will be requested from the White House."
When a reporter asked whether the schedule for Cho, who was supposed to depart for the U.S. as ambassador on the 2nd of next month, would be canceled, a senior official from the presidential office replied, "I need to review the schedule once, but after some handover work, he will likely go to Washington briefly to complete any remaining tasks as ambassador."
Regarding the denial of Kim’s replacement until the previous day and the immediate announcement of the successor on the same day, the official said, "It was not initially considered. However, Chief Kim expressed several times his hope that his resignation would not burden diplomacy and state affairs. As far as I know, President Yoon tried to dissuade him, but he repeatedly expressed his intention and it was accepted."
On concerns that a gap is inevitable as the head of diplomacy and security resigned ahead of a state visit to the U.S., the official denied, "As far as I know, the new chief will immediately proceed with the handover. He is currently still in Korea."
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