Spy chief nominee veteran diplomat with expertise in NK, US affairs
National Intelligence Service director nominee Cho Tae-yong speaks in a press briefing at the presidential office, in Seoul, Dec. 19. Yonhap
National Security Adviser Cho Tae-yong, who has been tapped as director of the National Intelligence Service, is a veteran diplomat also known as a balanced strategist in the field of security.
Born in Seoul, Cho, 67, graduated from Seoul National University in 1979 and joined the foreign ministry after passing the state foreign service exam in 1980.
His career has primarily focused on U.S. affairs and North Korea's denuclearization.
Cho became the first chief of the ministry's North Korean Nuclear Affairs Bureau in 2004 and served as the country's deputy chief of the six-party talks on the North's nuclear program when a landmark denuclearization deal was struck on Sept. 19, 2005.
In 2013, Cho became Seoul's top nuclear envoy.
In 2014, he became the first vice foreign minister in the Park Geun-hye administration and served as the first deputy chief of the presidential National Security Office the following year.
Cho's career also spans the National Assembly. In 2020, he was elected as a lawmaker for a proportional representation seat of the then opposition Future Korea Party, which was later merged with what is now the ruling People Power Party.
Cho was named South Korea's ambassador to the U.S. in June 2022 by President Yoon Suk Yeol and was subsequently named the national security adviser in March this year ahead of Yoon's state visit to the U.S.
Cho is widely considered a security expert who has extensive experience in both U.S. and North Korean affairs. (Yonhap)