S.Korea leader picks former advisor as foreign minister

ANKARA (AA) - South Korea's president on Wednesday nominated a former top national security adviser as the next foreign minister of the country, local media reported.

Moon Jae-in picked Chung Eui-yong to replace Kang Kyung-wha, a move just hours before the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Kyung-wha has been first female foreign minister of South Korea since she was appointed in 2017 when the Moon administration came to power.

Eui-yong played key role in Moon's engagement policy for North Korea that led to the first-ever summit between the US and North Korea in 2018 as he had met North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in Pyongyang and US President Donald Trump in Washington as special envoy of Moon and succeeded to arrange the first summit between the two leaders in Singapore in June 2018.

"I think it's my last chance to serve the country. I take this nomination as a candidate for public office with a humble and solemn heart," the report quoted Eui-yong as saying.

"If confirmed, I will do my utmost so that the foreign policy pursued by the Moon Jae-in government can bear fruit and the Korean Peninsula peace process can take root," he added.

On Monday, Moon said he hopes that stalled nuclear talks with North Korea will pick up from the Singapore summit.

Eui-yong, 74, also served as diplomate in the US, Israel, Canada, Thailand.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid