South Korea picks critic of North's rights record as unification minister (updated)

Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co

29/06/2023 02:53

(Adds reaction from opposition party in paragraphs 8 and 9,
share price reaction)
    By Soo-hyang Choi and Hyunsu Yim
       SEOUL, June 29 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon
Suk Yeol on Thursday picked a conservative scholar and an
outspoken critic of North Korea's human rights record as the
country's new unification minister handling relations with
Pyongyang in a cabinet reshuffle.
    The nomination of Kim Yung-ho, a political science professor
at Sungshin Women's University, comes as Yoon has been seeking
to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses in North Korea and
as tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked.
    Yoon said in March the international community should have
better knowledge about the situation in the North.
    Kim, 63, served as a presidential secretary for unification
and a human rights envoy under the conservative Lee Myung-bak
and Park Geun-hye administrations.
    The nomination is likely to add strain to ties between the
two Koreas. North Korea has long rejected criticism of its
rights conditions as part of a plot to overthrow its rulers.
    Kim Yung-ho said in a 2019 column that the path to
unification would open when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's
"regime is overthrown and North Korea is liberated."
    "I will do my best to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue
with a principled approach and build the foundation to improve
inter-Korean relations," professor Kim told reporters after the
appointment was announced.
    A spokesperson for the main opposition Democratic Party
criticised the appointment.
        "Professor Kim Yung-ho is not the right fit for the...
position, which needs to lay the ground for unification through
dialogue and exchanges," Park Sung-joon said.   
  
    Yoon's chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki, said the professor would
pursue a "principle-based" and consistent North Korea policy.
    Shares of South Korean companies linked to inter-Korean
economic cooperation fell after the reshuffle announcement.
Apparel maker In the F  014990.KS  lost 5% and Hyundai
Engineering & Construction  000720.KS  was down 2%.
    The unification ministry's role ranges from cross-border
dialogue and exchanges to studying human rights abuses in North
Korea and helping defectors resettle in the South.
    But the ministry has seen its standing change along with
relations between the neighbours. The two Koreas remain
technically at war under an armistice on the 1950-53 Korean War.
    Nuclear-armed North Korea has since early last year been
testing weapons, including its biggest intercontinental
ballistic missile, ramping up tensions with the South and its
main ally, the United States.
    Thursday's cabinet shake-up also included a replacement for
the head of the anti-corruption and civil rights commission, a
ministerial post. There was also a string of replacements for
vice-ministerial posts, including the appointment of 2008
Olympic gold medallist weightlifter Jang Mi-ran as the second
vice minister of culture and sports. 
    Ministerial appointees are subject to parliamentary hearings
but a formal approval is not required.

 (Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Hyunsu Yim; Additional
reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Jack Kim, Ed Davies and
Gerry Doyle)
 ((soohyang.choi@thomsonreuters.com;))