Who sent the dialogue message to South Korea on behalf of Kim Jong-un?

Mr. Ri Son-gwon spoke on KCT TV channel on January 3. Photo: Yonhap

On January 3, Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, informed the South Korean side on behalf of leader Kim Jong-un that Pyongyang would reopen the communication channel at the Panmunjom truce village in the inter-Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ). The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea is the body responsible for resolving issues related to inter-Korean relations.

The move by North Korea was in response to South Korea's proposal to hold high-level talks between the two countries. The hotline between North Korea and South Korea has been suspended since 2016 and Pyongyang has not answered any of Seoul's calls since then amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

“Leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the reopening of the communication channel between North Korea and South Korea at Panmunjom from 3 p.m. on January 3, so issues related to holding talks, including sending a North Korean delegation to the PyeongChang Olympics, will be promptly discussed with South Korea through this communication channel,” Ri said on North Korea’s state television KCT.

As one of the North Korean regime's top negotiators, Ri Son-gwon, who holds the rank of senior colonel, represented North Korea in talks with South Korea under former President Roh Moo-hyun and as tensions escalated in the years that followed. Since 2004, Ri has been seen at 27 talks between North and South Korea.

After Kim Jong-un took power in 2011, Ri was appointed director of the policy department of the National Defense Commission. However, the commission was later dissolved and replaced by the State Foreign Affairs Commission, which is currently headed by Kim Jong-un.

Hot tempered person

South Koreans listen to an announcement from North Korea on television on January 3 in Seoul. Photo: AP

Ri Son-gwon is considered the “right-hand man” of Kim Yong-chul, a senior military official of North Korea. Kim Yong-chul was suspected of being behind the sinking of the South Korean naval ship Cheonan in 2010 and the bombing of a South Korean island near the maritime border between the two countries. As the former director of the North Korean Reconnaissance Bureau, Kim Yong-chul is on the list of North Korean citizens sanctioned by the South Korean government.

Media reports often portray Ri Son-gwon as extremely hot-tempered during inter-Korean talks. During the first 10 minutes of a meeting between North and South Korea in February 2011, Ri reportedly shouted, “We have absolutely nothing to do with the Cheonan incident,” before storming out of the meeting room.

In another military meeting in 2010, Mr. Ri also flatly denied North Korea’s involvement in the sinking of the Cheonan. He even “counter-accused” the South Korean side of fabricating the investigation results.

Mr. Ri is also a member of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee - a foreign affairs body of North Korea that was reopened in April 2017 after 19 years of inactivity.

According to the announcement of the South Korean Ministry of Unification, North Korea has agreed to participate in high-level talks with South Korea on January 9. If Mr. Ri Son-gwon is selected to represent the North Korean side to participate in this meeting, his counterpart on the South Korean side will most likely be Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon.

Analysts say leader Kim Jong-un must have considered Ri Son-gwon's position before appointing him to represent the North Korean government in making an important announcement to South Korea on January 3.

“North Korea does not have a Ministry of Unification (like South Korea), but the committee headed by Ri can be considered an agency on par with the Ministry of Unification in terms of role and similarity. That is why Kim Jong-un appointed Ri as the message-deliverer,” Koh Yu-hwan, a professor at Dongguk University in Seoul, told Reuters.Korea Herald.