Choe Son-hui is a senior
diplomat, She is very experienced in negotiating on the
nuclear program of North Korea, She worked as an interpreter and aide in nuclear talks under First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs
Kim Kye-gwan. She also served in this capacity during former US president
Bill Clinton's visit to
Pyongyang following the
2009 imprisonment of American journalists by North Korea and a similar visit by
Jimmy Carter. She has said that severing of United States' military alliance with Japan and South Korea are prerequisites for negotiations and that US withdrawal from Korea should be a verifiable process. Choe has served as section chief, deputy director, In June 2016, Choe became director of the department and director of IFAS. representing the 484th Electoral District (
Onjong).
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Sung Kim Choe was promoted to the rank of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in late February 2018, Choe's portfolio included responsibility for those relations and
with Canada. Choe's appointment had been interpreted as reflecting North Korea's willingness to negotiate with the
United States as she had allegedly expressed a conciliatory position during the initial
2017 North Korea crisis. In May, she participated in track 1.5 talks with former US diplomats, in order to get to know the
administration of US president
Donald Trump. On 24 May, the state news agency
KCNA released a statement by Choe in which she criticized US Vice President
Mike Pence, Choe is thought to have direct access to
Kim Jong Un, Choe's remarks directly led to Trump promptly notifying North Korea that the planned
2018 North Korea–United States Singapore Summit would be canceled. In the end, the summit was organized on 12 June and Choe was present. She was replaced as the head of working-level negotiations in early 2019. Choe was the last person to have talked to the American team of negotiators. She made a last-minute suggestion that all facilities of the
Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center could be demolished. When she was then asked to clarify what the offer meant, she was unable to give any further details, resulting in the American team walking out. Choe is the highest-ranking woman in the foreign ministry. She is one of a few women in holding such a high-level office in North Korean politics overall. In December 2024, during the plenary session of the
Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Choe was promoted to become a member of the
WPK Politburo. ==See also==