New MOFA Vice Minister

Kim Song Gi, recently a diplo at the DPRK’s Beijing Embassy, is MOFA’s new vice minister.  He was identified in his new position when he appeared at a welcoming event for the new Chinese Ambassador, Liu Hongcai.  Kim Song Gi replaces Kim Yong Il who became Department Director of the KWP International Department earlier this year.

The personnel change was observed in a story about the welcoming event on the Chinese-language site of the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang, and reported by Yonhap.  These recent foreign affairs personnel assignments come amid MOFA’s rhetoric of increasing its nuclear arsenal while indicating its return to the Six Party Talks.

Meanwhile, as ROK President Lee Myung Bak departed for Washington to attend the first Nuclear Security Summit and meet with US leaders, speculation is rampant of the DPRK’s involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan.