Candidates for new nuclear envoy said to include minister's adviser

SEOUL, Feb. 27 (Yonhap) -- Several candidates are on the shortlist to replace South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Sook who was named Friday to a senior intelligence agency post, according to inside sources.

The sources put Wi Sung-lac, special assistant to Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan,
at the top of a shortlist of candidates.
Wi served as minister for political affairs at the South Korean embassy in
Washington from 2004-2007 after leading the foreign ministry's North American
affairs bureau from 2003-2004. He is known for expertise on the U.S. and North
Korean nuclear issues.
The sources say Ambassador to Ireland Cho Tae-yong is also on the list. He was
deputy chief of the South Korean delegation to the six-nation North Korean
nuclear talks from 2004-2006.
Other candidates include Kim Kyu-hyun, minister for political affairs at the
South Korean embassy in Washington, and Ambassador to Spain Cho Tae-yul who was
deputy minister for trade from 2007-2008.
The sources, however, do not rule out the possibility that an unexpected figure
will be chosen, as has happened in previous personnel reshuffles by President Lee
Myung-bak.
lcd@yna.co.kr
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