Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kyou-hyun on Monday was appointed head of the secretariat of Cheong Wa Dae’s National Security Council, the presidential office said.

The 61-year-old career diplomat will also assume the vice ministerial position of vice chief of the National Security Office headed by Kim Jang-soo.

“Kim not only excels in leadership, external negotiations and crisis management, but also is equipped with a strategic mindset with regard to national security,” Ju Chul-ki, senior presidential secretary for foreign and security affairs, told reporters.

Since his entry to the ministry in 1980, Kim Kyou-hyun has taken up various key posts including deputy foreign minister, ambassador for performance evaluation, embassy minister in Washington and deputy director general for North American affairs.

Kim is respected by many other colleagues for his diplomatic acumen and judgment in sensitive foreign policy issues. As director general for international cooperation at the Defense Ministry, he also worked with Kim Jang-soo who was then defense minister.

Meanwhile, Chun Hae-sung, chief of unification policy at the Unification Ministry, was tapped as presidential secretary for security strategy, a newly created deputy-minister-level post.

Chun, 50, formerly served as senior representative for inter-Korean dialogue, spokesperson and director general for humanitarian cooperation, among other positions.

(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)