hankyoreh

Kim Sung-han, who until recently served as director of the presidential office National Security Office. (Hankyoreh file photo)

The rumors proved true when Kim Sung-han, South Korea’s national security advisor, abruptly resigned on Wednesday.

Kim Sung-han is the latest casualty in a personnel reshuffle under way at the presidential office, coming soon after the replacement of Kim Il-bum, the secretary in charge of protocol, and Lee Mun-hee, the secretary in charge of diplomacy.

The immediate cause of Kim Sung-han’s departure was reportedly an omission in reporting during preparations for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s upcoming summit with the US president, scheduled for the end of April.

Yoon has named Cho Tae-yong, 67, Korea’s current ambassador to the US, to fill the role. There are concerns that this nearly unprecedented shakeup of the president’s foreign policy and national security teams will disrupt preparations for his trip to the US next month and his attendance at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan, in May.

“As of today, I am stepping down as national security advisor. I hope the controversy I have caused will no longer impose a burden on foreign policy or the affairs of state,” Kim said in a position statement given to the press pool at the presidential office on Wednesday afternoon.

“When I was offered this position by the president a year ago, I told him I would return to academia after laying the groundwork for restoring the Korea-US alliance, improving Korea-Japan relations and strengthening Korea-US-Japan security cooperation. I think those conditions have now been met to some extent,” he added.

Kim is a professor at the Korea University Graduate School of International Studies.

Commenting on Yoon’s planned visit to the US as a guest of the state on April 26, Kim said, “The preparations are going well, and I think that whoever my successor is will be able to perform their duties without issues.”

His decision to step down is being attributed in part to friction that arose while coordinating Yoon’s US visit schedule. An omission in reporting during coordination for a cultural performance in the US resulted in what amounted to a breach of diplomatic etiquette.

According to sources, Yoon learned about the US’ cultural performance proposal belatedly through a different channel than Kim’s team, which prompted him to sternly reprimand his foreign affairs and national security advisors.

“The reporting omission was not a minor issue,” a senior official with the presidential office told the Hankyoreh on Wednesday, adding that they understood Kim’s resignation to be a gesture of “keenly felt responsibility by the person in charge of the organization for the trouble that these issues caused for the president’s leadership.”

Another factor cited in the situation was a climate of discord, including differences of opinion on policy issues between Kim Sung-han and his No. 2 at the National Security Office, Kim Tae-hyo.

Kim Sung-han’s resignation was immediately accepted by Yoon, who designated Cho Tae-yong, the South Korean ambassador to the US, as his successor.

Over the years, Cho has worked as director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ North American bureau, director of the North Korean nuclear program diplomacy planning team, director of protocol, ambassador to Australia, and special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, as well as first deputy director of the National Security Office and first vice minister of foreign affairs. He was appointed to serve in Washington in June of last year.

Kim Eun-hye, the senior presidential security for press affairs, said the administration “plans to quickly select a successor as ambassador to the US and request an agrément from the White House.”

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter

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