South Korean President Moon Jae In picked Chung Eui Yong, a former director of the National Security Office, as the new foreign minister, the presidential office said Wednesday.
The announcement that the former career diplomat will replace Kang Kyung Wha, who has been the country's top diplomat since the start of the Moon administration, comes as Democrat Joe Biden is set to be inaugurated as president of the United States.
The personnel change is "meant to breathe vigor into (the South Korean government's) foreign policy" team on the occasion of the launch of the new U.S. administration, a senior official in Moon's office said.
As director of the National Security Office, Chung engaged in consultations with the United States and North Korea over the North's denuclearization, and other diplomatic and security issues.
After serving as the director for three years until July, he became a special adviser to the president on foreign policy and national security, a post he still holds.
Chung said in a statement after Wednesday's announcement that if appointed, he will make "utmost efforts" so the Korean Peninsula peace process can "take root" and the Moon administration's foreign policy "bears fruit."
He will assume the top diplomatic post after a parliamentary hearing.
As Moon's special envoy, Chung visited North Korea's capital Pyongyang in March 2018 and met with leader Kim Jong Un. During his visit, the two Koreas agreed to hold a Moon-Kim summit in April that year.
Chung went to the United States right after his North Korean visit and conveyed a message from Kim to President Donald Trump, laying the groundwork for the first ever U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore in June that year.
Chung's appointment also comes as ties between South Korea and Japan have sunken to a historic low point over court rulings ordering damages be paid to Koreans forced to work in Japanese factories and military brothels before and during World War II.
Japan's top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, reiterated that bilateral relations are in an "extremely difficult situation" and that Tokyo would continue urging Seoul to take action to mend ties.
Chung, who at the Foreign Ministry held senior posts including ambassador to Israel and head of the permanent mission in Geneva, also served one term as a member of the National Assembly from 2004 to 2008.
South Korea last month replaced its chief nuclear envoy with Noh Kyu Duk, secretary to the president for peace planning at the National Security Office.
Kang became foreign minister in June 2017 following Moon's election and inauguration as president the previous month. The former academic is the first woman to serve as South Korea's foreign minister.
