Ri Yong-ho (politician)

Korean spelling
Chosŏn'gŭl	리용 호
Hancha	李 容 浩
Revised Romanization	Ri Yong-ho
McCune- Reischauer	Ri Yong-ho
See also : Korean name

Ri Yong-ho (* 1954 ) is a North Korean politician of the Labor Party of Korea (PdAK) who was Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of Korea from 2016 to early 2020. He is also a candidate for the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PdAK and a member of the Central Committee of the PdAK. He belongs to the third generation of the North Korean elite and is a protégé of the former Acting Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju , who died in 2016 . Since the mid-1990s he has been one of the leading diplomats in diplomatic relations with the United States , the United Nations and South Korea and in the six-party talks .

Life

Ri Yong-ho is a son of Ri Myong-je, who was the head of Kim Jong-il's private secretariat and editor-in-chief of the Central Korean News Agency (KCNA). After attending the Namsan High School in Pyongyang and studying English at the University of Foreign Languages ​​there, he joined the diplomatic service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978. Between 1979 and 1984 he was first secretary at the embassy in Zimbabwe and then from 1985 to 1988 secretary at the embassy in Sweden . After his return he was employed in the Foreign Ministry from 1988 to 1995 as head of a section of the department for international organizations and was most recently promoted to deputy director general of this department in 1991. In 1995 he was appointed Counselor and began participating in negotiations with the US on the North Korean nuclear weapons program .

In October 2000, Ri accompanied the First Vice-Chairman of the National Defense Commission, Vice-Marshal Jo Myong-rok, in the rank of ambassador on the most high-ranking visit to the United States by a North Korean state and party official, which was also received by then US President Bill Clinton . He was appointed Ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2003 and remained in that post until 2006. He was also accredited as Ambassador to Ireland between 2004 and 2006 .

On his return he became General Diplomatic Advisor to the State Department in 2007 and as such was also responsible for the six-party talks with South Korea, the People's Republic of China , Russia , Japan and the US, which were intended to bring about a peaceful solution to the conflict over the North Korean nuclear weapons program . However, the talks were almost regularly boycotted by one of the parties before North Korea announced its withdrawal from the talks on April 14, 2009 after international criticism of a North Korean missile test. In July 2010 he accompanied Foreign Minister Pak Ui-chun on his visit to Asia , for example at the ASEAN forum in Hanoi .

Ri (right) with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (August 2018)

On September 23, 2010, Ri Yong-ho was appointed Vice Foreign Minister, succeeding Kim Kye-kwan , who in turn became First Vice Foreign Minister. On the III. Party Conference of the Workers' Party of Korea , he was elected on 28 September 2010 for the candidates of the Central Committee of the WPK. Between 2011 and 2013 he took part in various meetings with South Korean diplomats and politicians and in March 2014 was elected as a deputy of the 13th Supreme People's Assembly. At the 7th party congress of the PdAK , which took place from 6 to 10 May 2016, he was elected as a candidate for the Politburo of the Central Committee of the PdAK and a member of the Central Committee of the PdAK. During the party congress he was also appointed Foreign Minister on May 9, 2016, replacing Ri Su-yong , who rose to become Vice-Chairman of the PdAK and head of the Central Committee's Department for International Affairs. Ri also became a member of the DPRK State Affairs Committee in 2016 , the successor to the former National Defense Commission.

On March 15, 2018, Ri visited Sweden to prepare for a meeting between Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump . The summit actually took place on June 12, 2018 in Singapore . Ri himself had described US President Trump in a speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations in September 2017 as "deranged". At the 25th ASEAN Regional Forum in August 2018, he met with the Australian Foreign Minister , Julie Bishop , to discuss the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On January 18, 2020, various German newspapers reported, citing the South Korean media, that Ri Yong-ho should be replaced as Foreign Minister. The replacement took place on January 20, 2020, the new foreign minister was Ri Son-gwon , who is known as a hardliner .

Web links

• Biography in North Korea Leadership Watch
• Entry in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The secret behind Ri Yong Ho, North Korea's fire-breathing spokesman latimes <.com, accessed on February 28, 2019 (English)
2. ^ Ri Yong Ho (Foreign Affairs) nkleadershipwatch.org, accessed February 28, 2019
3. ↑ North Korea: May 17, 2016 (rulers.org)
4. ↑ North Korea: Foreign Ministers (rulers.org)
5. ↑ Stronger ties with the West? North Korea has a new foreign minister ( n-tv (May 17, 2016))
6. ^ North Korea Has a New Foreign Minister. Ri Yong-ho wants to replace Ri Su-yong as the reclusive state's top global diplomat. ( The Diplomat (May 18, 2016))
7. ^ Korean crisis. North Korea's Foreign Minister in Sweden . ( Frankfurter Rundschau (March 16, 2018))
8. ↑ Speculation about Kim Trump meetings. North Korea's foreign minister landed in Sweden ( Der Spiegel (March 16, 2018))
9. ↑ North Korean Foreign Minister rebukes Trump at the UN General Assembly. The North Korean foreign minister called the US president “mentally deranged” for his speech on Tuesday. (The Diplomat (September 24, 2017))
10. ^ The Bishop-Ri Meeting: Another Missed Opportunity for Australia. 'Nuclear tunnel vision' strikes again as Australia misses another opportunity to refresh its North Korea policy. (The Diplomat (August 16, 2016))
11. ^ Ri Yong Ho: North Korea is apparently changing its foreign minister. Retrieved January 18, 2020 . 
12. ^ North Korea: Foreign Minister changed . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed January 18, 2020]).
13. ↑ Fabian Kretschmer: Kim Jong Un names new foreign minister for North Korea. In: Augsburger Allgemeine . January 20, 2020, accessed January 21, 2020 . 

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Korean. Ri is the family name here, Yong-ho is the first name.