Cho Tae-yong "Efforts to Complete Yoon Administration's National Goals"

First Briefing at Yongsan Presidential Office
Emphasizing Global Hub Nation
"One Team Absolutely Necessary"

Cho Tae-yong, the newly appointed Director of the National Security Office, stated on the 30th, "My mission is to strive to complete the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's national agenda."

Director Cho held his first briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul that afternoon and said, "It is a critical time, and I feel a heavy responsibility in taking on the position of National Security Office Director."

Cho Tae-yong, the newly appointed National Security Office Director, is delivering a greeting at the briefing room of the Presidential Office building in Yongsan, Seoul, on the 30th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

In particular, Director Cho mentioned, "I believe that over the past 11 months, we have laid a solid foundation for building a global pivotal state, which is the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's national goal." He added, "I see my mission as building a good structure on that foundation to complete the national agenda."

He continued, "To achieve this, I believe it is absolutely necessary for all members of the Presidential Office, including the National Security Office, to work together with one heart and as one team," and added, "I will also do my best for this cause."

Meanwhile, President Yoon Seok-yeol decided to accept Kim Sung-han's resignation as Director of the National Security Office after careful consideration the day before and appointed Cho Tae-yong, the Ambassador to the United States, as his successor. Director Cho served as First Secretary at the Embassy in the U.S. in 1993, and worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s North American Affairs Bureau as head of the North America 2 Division and North America 1 Division. In 2002, he was the North America 2 Counselor, in 2004 he led the North Korea Nuclear Task Force (TF), and from 2006 he served as Director of the North American Affairs Bureau.

During the Park Geun-hye administration, he was appointed in 2013 as Head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Peace Negotiation Office on the Korean Peninsula, overseeing North Korea nuclear-related policy affairs. He 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 also 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 President Yoon’s inauguration, he was appointed Ambassador to the U.S.