Veteran US diplomat appointed as Biden's special envoy to North Korea

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sun, October 1, 2023 | 04:39

Politics

Veteran US diplomat appointed as Biden's special envoy to North Korea

Posted : 2021-05-23 16:20

Updated : 2021-05-23 18:01

President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden applaud after the U.S. leader announces the appointment of Acting Assistant Secretary of State Sung Kim, right, as "U.S. special envoy for the DPRK," during a joint news conference in the East Room of the White House, Washington, D.C., Friday (local time). Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

Sung Kim, who was appointed as the new U.S. special envoy to North Korea, is a veteran State Department official who has been deeply involved in nuclear talks with the North during the Obama and Trump administrations.

In a joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Friday (local time), U.S. President Joe Biden made a surprise announcement that he was appointing Acting Assistant Secretary of State Sung Kim as "U.S. special envoy for the DPRK," using the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

President Biden said Kim's "deep policy expertise" will help drive efforts to move toward "our ultimate goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."

The Korean-American diplomat, who until recently was U.S. ambassador to Indonesia, has served as the acting assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs at the State Department since January following the launch of the Biden administration.

In 2008, Kim was appointed by former U.S. President George W. Bush as the U.S. special envoy for the multilateral six-party talks, and served until 2011 when former President Obama was in office.

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Kim then served as the U.S. ambassador to South Korea from 2011 to 2014, and the special representative for North Korea policy until 2016 in the Obama administration.

He also served as the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines from 2016 to 2020, and then was appointed by former President Donald Trump as the U.S. ambassador to Indonesia in 2020.

In 2018, when the veteran diplomat was serving as the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, he played a key role in coordinating the summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

President Moon welcomed Biden's announcement, saying that he believed Kim's appointment as the U.S. special envoy to North Korea reflected Washington's "strong willingness" to engage diplomatically with Pyongyang and prepare for dialogue.

What was especially notable about Biden's announcement was that the U.S. president used the term "DPRK" ― rather than "North Korea" ― when mentioning the diplomat's job title.

Experts here said that Biden's use of the term can be construed as an expression of respect toward the North to some extent and that he demonstrated a clear commitment to engaging Pyongyang.

"That may not have been just simple rhetoric but a signal to North Korea that the United States is willing to talk," said Yoo Yong-hwa, a political analyst and a visiting professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul. "I expect Sung Kim to continue to play a key role in coordinating the North's requirements as he had done so in the previous administrations."

Sung Kim was born in Seoul in 1960 and moved to the United States in the mid-1970s following his father.

He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a degree in law at Loyola University. He also holds a Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics.

He served as a state prosecutor before changing his profession to a diplomat.

jjh@koreatimes.co.kr