Kim Yeon-chul (; born 26 March 1964) is a South Korean associate professor of unification at

Inje University Inje University (인제대학교) is a private university founded in 1932, located in Gimhae, South Korea. As of Aug, 2009, it had 874 faculty members, 230 staff members, 14,373 Undergraduate students and 1,458 Graduate students. The University ha ...

who served as Minister of Unification under President

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

from April 2019 to June 2020. Before promoted to Minister, Kim was the president of the

Korea Institute for National Unification The Korea Institute for National Unification is a think tank funded by the South Korean government focusing on issues related to Korean reunification. History In 1990, the institute was established as a hub of research on North Korea. In 2010, ...

, a government-funded research institute. He was previously a policy advisor to then-Minister of Unification

Chung Dong-young Chung Dong-young (born 27 July 1953 in Sunchang County, North Jeolla) is a politician and was the United New Democratic Party nominee for President of South Korea in 2007. From April 2004 until December 2005, Chung was the South Korean Minister ...

from 2004 to 2006. After completing his doctorate programme, he joined

Samsung Economic Research Institute Samsung Economic Research Institute (SERI) is a private-sector think tanks in South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a ...

as its senior researcher. He was also the first president of

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' (, literally "The Korean Nation" or "One Nation") is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternati ...

's research institute on peace studies. Kim holds three degrees in political science from

Sungkyunkwan University Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU or simply ''Seongdae'', Hangul: 성균관대학교; Hanja: 成均館大學校) is a private comprehensive research university in South Korea. The institution traces its origins to the historic Sungkyunkwan, founde ...

from a bachelor to a doctorate. Following North Korea's destruction of its Kaesong liaison office and a general worsening of inter-Korean relations, he offered to resign on June 17, 2020. On June 19, 2020, President

officially accepted his resignation as the Minister of Unification.

References

Sungkyunkwan University alumni Living people 1964 births People from Donghae City Government ministers of South Korea Experts on North Korea Academic staff of Inje University South Korean international relations scholars {{Korea-academic-bio-stub