Ri Ryong-nam ( ko, 리룡남, born August 8, 1960) is a politician of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, serving as the DPRK's Ambassador to China since February 2021. With a background in economic affairs, Ri was a delegate to the 12th,

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

and 14th convocations of the Supreme People's Assembly, chairman of the North Korean-Syrian Friendship Association and chairman of the North Korean Football Association.

Biography

In 1994, Ri was appointed an assistant to the Ministry of Trade in 1998 after passing through the secretary of economic affairs for the North Korean Embassy in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. After rising to the Ministry of Trade in March 2001, he was appointed the first vice chairman of the North Korea International Trade Promotion Committee in October 2004. Currently, he is chairman of the North Korean-Syria Friendship Association, and since July 2010, he is also chairman of the North Korean Football Association. From March 2008 to September 2016 he served as

Minister of External Economic Relations The Ministry of External Economic Relations is North Korea's foreign trade ministry. The ministry's headquarters are at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang. The current minister is Kim Yong-jae and the vice minister O Ryong-chol. The ministry was e ...

in the Cabinet of North Korea. In September 2010, he was elected to the

Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea The Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea ( ko, 조선로동당 중앙위원회) is the highest party body between national meetings of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), the ruling party of North Korea. According to WPK rules, the ...

. He served on the funeral committee for Kim Jong-il in December 2011, having previously served in a similar capacity after the respective deaths of

Pak Song-chol Pak Song-chol or Park Sung-chul (2 September 1913 – 28 October 2008) was a North Korean politician who served as Premier of North Korea from 1976 to 1977. He succeeded Kim Il. He also served as foreign minister from 1959 to 1970. Biogra ...

and

Jo Myong-rok Jo Myong-lok (12 July 1928 – 6 November 2010) was a North Korean military officer who held the military rank Chasu (Vice Marshal). In 1998, he was appointed First Vice-Chairman of the National Defence Commission of North Korea, Director ...

. In June 2016, he was appointed Deputy Premier of the Cabinet of North Korea. In April 2017 he was appointed a member of the Supreme People's Assembly Foreign Relations Committee. On February 19, 2021, Ri was appointed to be the North Korean ambassador to China, having arrived in China the prior day. After Ri went through a period of quarantine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed his appointment and accepted his credentials in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

on March 18, 2021. Ri had previously lived in Beijing briefly as a student at the Beijing Foreign Studies University.

References

Members of the Supreme People's Assembly Government ministers of North Korea 1960 births Living people Alternate members of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea People from Pyongyang {{NorthKorea-politician-stub