South Korea picks critic of North's rights record as unification minister

By Soo-hyang Choi and Hyunsu Yim

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday picked a conservative scholar and an outspoken critic of North Korea's human rights record as the country's new unification minister handling relations with Pyongyang in a cabinet reshuffle.

The nomination of Kim Yung-ho, a political science professor at Sungshin Women's University, comes as Yoon has been seeking to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses in North Korea and as tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked.

Yoon said in March the international community should have better knowledge about the situation in the North.

Kim, 63, served as a presidential secretary for unification and a human rights envoy under the conservative Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations.

The nomination is likely to add strain to ties between the two Koreas. North Korea has long rejected criticism of its rights conditions as part of a plot to overthrow its rulers.

Kim Yung-ho said in a 2019 column that the path to unification would open when North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's "regime is overthrown and North Korea is liberated."

"I will do my best to resolve North Korea's nuclear issue with a principled approach and build the foundation to improve inter-Korean relations," professor Kim told reporters after the appointment was announced.

A spokesperson for the main opposition Democratic Party criticised the appointment.

"Professor Kim Yung-ho is not the right fit for the... position, which needs to lay the ground for unification through dialogue and exchanges," Park Sung-joon said.

Yoon's chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki, said the professor would pursue a "principle-based" and consistent North Korea policy.

Shares of South Korean companies linked to inter-Korean economic cooperation fell after the reshuffle announcement. Apparel maker In the F lost 5% and Hyundai Engineering & Construction was down 2%.

The unification ministry's role ranges from cross-border dialogue and exchanges to studying human rights abuses in North Korea and helping defectors resettle in the South.

But the ministry has seen its standing change along with relations between the neighbours. The two Koreas remain technically at war under an armistice on the 1950-53 Korean War.

Nuclear-armed North Korea has since early last year been testing weapons, including its biggest intercontinental ballistic missile, ramping up tensions with the South and its main ally, the United States.

Thursday's cabinet shake-up also included a replacement for the head of the anti-corruption and civil rights commission, a ministerial post. There was also a string of replacements for vice-ministerial posts, including the appointment of 2008 Olympic gold medallist weightlifter Jang Mi-ran as the second vice minister of culture and sports.

Ministerial appointees are subject to parliamentary hearings but a formal approval is not required.

(Reporting by Soo-hyang Choi and Hyunsu Yim; Additional reporting by Jihoon Lee; Editing by Jack Kim, Ed Davies and Gerry Doyle)