hankyoreh

By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent

North Korea recently switched out many members of its US diplomatic team, including its United Nations ambassador and the head of its Foreign Ministry’s US bureau.

Diplomatic sources in New York and Washington said that UN ambassador Sin Son-ho, 65, returned home to North Korea sometime between Feb. 12 and 13. His place is to be taken shortly by Ja Song-nam, 59, a bureau director from the Foreign Ministry.

Ja served as a minister to North Korea’s UN mission in 2000, acting director of the Foreign Ministry’s Disarmament and Peace Institute in 2005, and ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2007 to 2011. His previous experience in New York means he is already familiar with the US and UN, but sources said that he is not thoroughly versed in US matters.

The replacement appears to be a regular reshuffling, with Sin concluding a term of nearly six years since May 2008, and other diplomats aged in their 60s being replaced by younger diplomats in their 50s.

The position of Director General of the North American Affairs Bureau for the North Korean Foreign Ministry, passed from Ri Gun, 68, to Han Song-ryol, 59, at the end of last year. Han, who served as the deputy ambassador to the UN through June 2013, majored in political science and economics at Kim Il-sung University and was the former chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Americas Division and assistant head of the North American Affairs Bureau. He is a well-known expert on the US who has taken part in major negotiations between North Korea and the US from the 1990s until now.

During two terms as deputy ambassador to the UN - from 2002 to 2006 and from 2009 to 2013 - Han headed up the so-called “New York channel,” the unofficial conduit of communication between North Korea and the US. Han’s talent has even been recognized by American diplomats, sources say.

Ri Gun, who served as Director General of the North American Affairs Bureau for around 8 years, since 2005, was recently assigned to serve as the ambassador to the Congo, sources say. Ri, who was the North’s assistant envoy to the six-party talks as well as a member of the North’s delegation to high-ranking talks with the US, is regarded as being a seasoned veteran in American affairs. This naturally leads to speculation that his reassignment is partly due to his failure to bring about significant improvement in North Korea‘s relations with the US.

“It is fair to call this a generation swap in the contingent of North Korean diplomats who work with the US,” said a diplomatic source on condition of anonymity. “It is possible that the North’s diplomatic activity will increase in the future.”

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