The new North Korean foreign minister has little experience working with the United States and used to be quite harsh when dealing with South Korea.

North Korea told countries with embassies in Pyongyang last week that Ri Son-gwon, a senior military officer and a ruling Labor Party official, was appointed foreign minister, according to a foreign source. Anonymous delivery in Seoul.

He replaced Ri Yong-ho, a diplomat with years of experience negotiating with Washington but did not play a prominent role in the two years that North Korea stepped up diplomacy.

Analysts said it was too early to pinpoint the exact impact of this change with delayed denuclearization efforts with the United States, but Ri Son-gwon often played a tough role in the talks. negotiate with South Korea.

Unlike his predecessor, Ri Son-gwon has no experience in dealing with nuclear matters or working with US officials. Ri Son-gwon served as chairman of the Korea Unification Peace Committee (CPRC), which handles relations with South Korea, and is the latest military official to join the party leadership ranks.

As Kim Jong-un increased surveillance over short-range ballistic missile launches over the past year, the number of military and weapons officials accompanying him at the events increased.

Ri Son-gwon has rarely appeared in public since the Korea-Imperial talks stalled last year. But in April 2019, he was appointed to the foreign committee of the North Korean Supreme People's Council and was most recently present at the Labor Party's central committee for policy making in December. 2019.

Ri Son-gwon is the right-hand man of North Korean Labor Party Vice President Kim Yong-chol, who was accused by Seoul of being behind the sinking of South Korea's Cheonan naval ship in 2010.

Korean media often emphasize Ri Son-gwon's impatient personality during Korean-Korean meetings. During the first 10 minutes of a meeting in February 2011, he shouted: "We are completely unrelated to the Cheonan warship incident", before leaving the meeting room.

During a military talks in 2010, Ri Son-gwon also flatly rejected North Korea over the sinking of an escort ship, saying that South Korea had fabricated the results of the investigation.

Kim Yong-chol was originally the leader of the negotiation effort between North Korea and the US, but after the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi in February 2019 failed to achieve results, he gradually appeared less in public. Kim Jong-un attaches importance to more knowledgeable officials about relations with the United States, including Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui.

But Kim Yong-chol seems to retain his influence behind the scenes. Meanwhile, Ri Yong-ho's role gradually faded as the level-level talks with the US collapsed in October 2019 and Washington ignored the deadline for changing positions at the end of the year that Pyongyang had set. .

Ri Yong-ho was absent from photographs of top party officials at the December 2019 meeting and this has led many to speculate about his future. "Ri Yong-ho was 'disgraced' after the conference in Hanoi and then replaced because the State Department-selected negotiators didn't seem to be able to do anything," said Michael Madden, a gender expert. North Korean leader at Stimson Center in the US, said.

When Ri Son-gwon becomes foreign minister, Deputy Minister Choe Son-hui is expected to retain influence, thanks in part to his family background and personal relationship with the group of women close to Kim Jong- un, including his sister and wife.

"The most important thing is still what Kim Jong-un thinks and he needs a reliable person to speak on his behalf, whether it's Ri Son-gwon or Choe Son-hui", Kim Hong-kyun, former Korean officials specializing in nuclear negotiations, said.