East Asia “Deep Coverage Note” (140th)
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The birth of a “new empress” in North Korea.
The Workers’Party of Korea Central Committee newspaper “Rodong Sinmun” dated June 11 was convened by General Secretary Kim Jong-un from June 8 to 10, and was held in Pyongyang. Announced the “publication” (communiqué) of the 5th All-Member Assembly Expansion Conference.
The most eye-catching of these was the following.
Comrade Choi Sung-hee (Choe Son-hui) was added as one of the 21 new executives introduced in the “Gazette” with photos. In addition, the title attached to her face photo clearly stated “Minister of Foreign Affairs.”
In other words, Choi Sung-hee was newly elected as a candidate member of the party’s Central Political Bureau, and at the same time, was appointed as Foreign Minister.
An interpreter who looks bigger than diplomats
New Foreign Minister Choi Sung-hee was born as an orphan in 1964, but was adopted by Prime Minister Choe Yong-rim. He returned to Japan in 1980 after studying abroad in Beijing 55 Junior High School and Beijing Foreign Language University Junior High School to study English and Chinese in 1976. He then studied abroad in Austria and Malta.
After returning to Japan, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (currently the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) in 1988. In the 90’s, she married Han Young-kwon, an executive of the Workers’ Party of Korea.
She appeared on the front stage at the North Korean delegation of the six-party talks (Japan, the United States, South Korea, North Korea, China, Russia) that began in Beijing in 2003 to discuss North Korea’s nuclear development issues. It was when I joined as an English interpreter.