Suh Hoon (; born 1954) is a South Korean government official who served as the Director of National Security Office from 2020 to 2022 and previously as the director of the National Intelligence Service from 2017 to 2020.

Overview

In 1980, he started public service at the Ministry of National Security Planning with 17 public affairs and worked for National Intelligence Service for 28 years and 3 months until his retirement in March 2008. He was the third deputy of the

Roh Moo-hyun Roh Moo-hyun (; ; 1 September 1946 – 23 May 2009) was a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the ninth president of South Korea between 2003 and 2008. Roh's pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for ...

administration after going through the Strategic Chief of the National Intelligence Service. In 2017, he was appointed as 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 ...

's first director of National Intelligence Service. In July 2020 he was designated as Moon's second director of National Security Office replacing

Chung Eui-yong Chung Eui-yong (; born 14 April 1946) is a South Korean diplomat and a politician served as Ministry of Foreign Affairs (South Korea), Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2021 to 2022. Chung was previously President Moon Jae-in's first Office of Na ...

. This makes Suh as one of four people who continue to serve President Moon as cabinet minister or ministerial-level government official from the beginning of Moon's presidency in 2017 along with

Hong Nam-ki Hong Nam-ki (; born 29 July 1960) is a former Minister of Economy and Finance and an Deputy Prime Minister of South Korea served under President Moon Jae-in from 2018 to 2022. He is the longest serving Minister of Economy and Finance and Depu ...

Kim Sang-jo Kim Sang-jo (Korean: 김상조; Hanja: 金尙祚; born 21 November 1962) is a South Korean professor of international trade at Hansung University who served as the top policy aide to President Moon Jae-in and as his first Chairperson of Fair T ...

and

Kang Kyung-wha Kang Kyung-wha (; born April 7, 1955) is a South Korean diplomat and politician who served as the first Foreign Minister of South Korea under President Moon Jae-in from 2017 to 2021 as well as the first woman nominated for and appointed to the ...

as of December 2020.

Education

* BA in education, Seoul National University *

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Graduate School of International Politics *

Dongguk University Dongguk University (Korean: 동국대학교, Hanja: 東國大學校) is a private, coeducational university in South Korea, fundamentally based on Buddhism. Established in 1906 as Myeongjin School (명진학교; 明進學校) by Buddhist pioneers ...

Graduate School of North Korean Studies

Career

* 1996: Representative of Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization * February 2004: Chief of information security office of National Security Council * December 2004: Chief Strategy Officer of the National Intelligence Service * November 2006: The third deputy director of the National Intelligence Service Visiting Professor, Department of North Korean Studies, Ewha Womans University * June 2017: Director of the 13th National Intelligence Service of South Korea * July 2020: Director of National Security Office

Political activity

* In March 2018, Suh visited

Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populat ...

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

for discussing the required steps to denuclearization of North Korea * Suh briefed Japanese Prime Minister

Shinzo Abe Shinzo Abe ( ; ja, 安倍晋三, Hepburn: , ; 21 September 1954 – 8 July 2022) was a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 20 ...

and foreign minister the same month after his Pyongyang visit. * Suh Hoon played a critical role in historical

April 2018 inter-Korean summit The April 2018 Inter-Korean summit took place on 27 April 2018 on the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area, between Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea, and Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea and Supreme Leader of ...

. He also helped establish two previous first and second inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007, is seen as the country's prime expert on the subject with North Korea. He is known as the South Korean who met with the previous North Korean leader Kim Jong-il the most. * In April 2018, Suh Hoon visited North Korea as a South Korean envoy for organising the historic inter-Korean summit. He entered North Korea with a high-level delegation of South Korean officials.

Arrest

In December 2022 Hoon was arrested in South Korea on charges of

tampering with evidence Tampering with evidence, or evidence tampering, is an act in which a person alters, conceals, falsifies, or destroys evidence with the intent to interfere with an investigation (usually) by a law-enforcement, governmental, or regulatory authority. ...

that was related to the killing of South Korean

Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF, ko, 대한민국 해양수산부), is a cabinet-level division of the government of South Korea. It takes overall responsibilities for maritime and fisheries sectors in general, ranging from the promoti ...

official by North Korean espionage agents near the

Northern Limit Line The Northern Limit Line or North Limit Line (NLL) – 북방한계선 (in ROK) – is a disputed maritime demarcation line in the Yellow (West) Sea between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the north, and the Republic of Ko ...

in September 2020.

References