Yoon's envoys to Washington, Tokyo already chosen

Cho Tae-yong

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol has chosen his ambassadors for Washington and Tokyo, and deliberations on Beijing and Moscow are nearing an end, political sources exclusively told the JoongAng Ilbo Wednesday.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, sources said Rep. Cho Tae-yong of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) will likely serve as ambassador to the United States, while Yoon Duk-min, former head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, will go to Japan.

A leading candidate for ambassador to China is Chung Jae-ho, a professor of political science and international relations at Seoul National University. For ambassador to Russia, Chang Ho-jin, Seoul’s former ambassador to Cambodia, is being strongly considered.

The sources said Chang is also being considered for the post of first vice minister of foreign affairs.

The four candidates were said to have been chosen for their expertise in their respective fields.

Cho, the likely Korean ambassador to Washington, is a former career diplomat with nearly three decades in the service, and is a widely recognized expert on Korea-U.S. ties. In the Park Geun-hye administration, Cho served as first vice minister of foreign affairs and first deputy director of the Blue House National Security Council (NSC).

During the Park administration, Cho is known to have forged close ties with officials in the Barack Obama administration, many of whom are in the Joe Biden administration. Cho’s U.S. counterpart at that time was Antony Blinken, current secretary of state. Cho was also Seoul’s chief negotiator in the Six-Party talks discussing North Korean denuclearization.

The sources who spoke with the JoongAng Ilbo said Cho gained Yoon’s trust during the presidential campaign.

Yoon Duk-min

Yoon Duk-min, the likely ambassador to Japan, has spent most of his career researching international politics and Japanese studies. In the Park administration, he was head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, a vice ministerial-post.

Yoon left the academy when left-leaning President Moon Jae-in entered the Blue House, but continued his studies of diplomatic and national security affairs as head of a newly founded research group. Yoon, who is fluent in Japanese, helped Yoon Suk-yeol craft his diplomatic policy from the early days of the campaign. He recently was part of the president-elect’s policy delegation to Tokyo.

Chung, the likely ambassador to Beijing, is an expert in China and the U.S. He was part of Yoon’s policy delegation to Washington last month. Chung is known to be fluent in both English and Chinese.

Chang, who is being considered for ambassador to Russia, is a career diplomat with years of experience in both U.S. and North Korean affairs in the Foreign Ministry.

BY YOO JEE-HYE, LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]