[News Figures] Choe Son-hui Meets Putin, North Korea's First Female Foreign Minister

North Korea's Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on the 4th. Russian media reported that Choe conveyed Kim Jong-un's regards to Putin and that both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation. During her visit to Russia, Foreign Minister Choe held a conversation lasting over three hours with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the 1st. At that meeting, Choe promised, "I firmly believe that Russia will surely achieve victory under the wise leadership of President Vladimir Putin, and until the day of victory, I will always stand with our Russian comrades."

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Born in Pyongyang in 1964, Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui is the adopted daughter of former North Korean Premier Choe Yong-rim. Choe Yong-rim, born in 1930 in Kyonghung, North Hamgyong Province, served as North Korea's Premier and Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly. It is known that since Choe Yong-rim and his wife were unable to have children, they adopted Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.

Foreign Minister Choe studied abroad in China, Austria, and Malta. She is reported to have worked at the North Korean Foreign Ministry since 1988, building her career as an interpreter. She attended the 1999 Four-Party Talks involving South Korea, North Korea, the U.S., and China as a Foreign Ministry researcher. In 2000, she served as an interpreter during U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's visit to North Korea. She gained wider recognition during the Six-Party Talks held from August 2003 to December 2008, where she served as the chief interpreter for the North Korean delegation. Later, she is also known to have worked as Kim Jong-un's English interpreter.

Although she showed achievements in the Foreign Ministry's U.S. Department, she was unable to serve as a diplomat overseas due to her being a woman. She also served as an English interpreter during former U.S. President Bill Clinton's visit to North Korea in 2009. In 2010, she was appointed deputy director of the Foreign Ministry's North America Department and appeared as North Korea's deputy chief delegate at the Six-Party Talks that same year. Foreign Minister Choe was promoted from deputy director to director in 2016 and served as deputy minister of the North America Department in 2018. She was the key figure behind former U.S. President Donald Trump's sudden cancellation of the North Korea-U.S. summit. At that time, Choe warned in a statement, "If the U.S. continues to act illegally and outrageously, I will raise the issue of reconsidering the DPRK-U.S. summit with the supreme leadership," adding, "Whether the U.S. meets us at the negotiating table or on the battlefield of nuclear confrontation depends entirely on the U.S.'s decision and conduct." Following this, President Trump abruptly canceled the summit. North Korea then issued a statement expressing an apology.

She is regarded as one of the most powerful figures trusted by Chairman Kim Jong-un. In June 2022, she was promoted to Foreign Minister and elected as a candidate member of the Political Bureau, becoming involved in North Korea's foreign policy. This marked 34 years since she joined the Foreign Ministry. She also set the record as North Korea's first female Foreign Minister.