Yong-il graduated from Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies. In 1975, he joined the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the North Korean. He belonged to the International Affairs Department. In 1985, he was appointed Counsellor at the Embassy in Algeria. In March 1990, he was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In July 1990, he served as an adviser to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly. In January 1993, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. In January 1996, he was appointed Ambassador of the DPRK to Libya and concurrently served as Ambassador to Malta, Tunisia and Algeria. In January 2000, he was appointed Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. At
Japan–North Korea Pyongyang Declaration held in 2002, also at the Japan-North Korea summit on 2004, he greeted Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi at the airport in Pyongyang as courtesies. In August 2003, he joined
Six-party talks as a Vice Foreign Minister of North Korea. After that, he was in charge of diplomatic negotiations with China and Japan, including the talk with of Japan, on 2013–2014, former top aide of Koizumi and then a member of
Shinzo Abe cabinet. ==References==