▲ Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho (R) shakes hands with Ko Young-hwan, a former North Korean diplomat-turned-defector, at his office in Seoul on Sept. 6, 2023, after appointing him as a special adviser. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) ex-NK diplomat-unification ministry

(LEAD) Ex-N. Korean diplomat named special adviser to Seoul's unification minister

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 4-6)

SEOUL, Sept. 6 (Yonhap) -- Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Wednesday appointed a former North Korean diplomat who defected to South Korea as his special adviser, citing his expertise in information analysis on the North.

Ko Young-hwan, who defected to South Korea in 1991, was named as an adviser to Kim on inter-Korean affairs and will play a role in helping people better understand the North's situation, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

"The unification ministry is planning to strengthen its ability to analyze North Korean intelligence and effectively push for the policy on North Korean defectors. In that sense, his appointment will help bolster the ministry's capabilities," Kim said.

Ko, who hails from Pyongyang, served as a French interpreter for late North Korean founder Kim Il-sung and is the first North Korean diplomat ever to defect to South Korea.

He served as the vice chief of the state-run Institute for National Security Strategy in Seoul and is currently working as a member of an advisory committee on unification policy vision.

"I will do my best to make the Yoon Suk Yeol government's policy on the North and unification a success and build inter-Korean relations into a mutually beneficial and equal one," Ko said.

President Yoon has taken a hard-line stance against the North's provocative acts and has stressed the need to make the international community aware of the dismal human rights situation in the North.

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