Name   Jon Kum-jin Sex   Male Date of Birth   February 15, 1932 Place of Birth   Sonbong, North Hamkyong Province Posts Held Senior cabinet counsel, vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, deputy chief of the unification front bureau of the Korean Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, member of the 11th Supreme People’s Assembly Claim to Fame Expert in relations with South Korea Education Bachelor’s in law from Kim Il Sung University Profile Jon Kum-jin is a long-time expert on relations with South Korea. As deputy chief of the unification front bureau of the Korean Workers’ Party’s Central Committee and vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, he wields substantial power in inter-Korean ties. In 1960, he began his political career as a section leader of the committee’s organizational bureau. He first took part in inter-Korean talks in 1972 as the spokesman for the North and held the same post in inter-Korean coordination meetings in 1973. He also served as the chief delegate to preliminary meetings in 1985 and 1988 ahead of inter-Korean parliamentary talks. He has led the North in inter-Korean talks covering a number of fields. His other appointments include head of the North’s organizing committee for the Pan National Rally in 1990; chief delegate to trilateral talks on the second rally in Berlin the same year; vice chairman of the Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification in 1991; the North’s chairman of the Joint Committee for Inter-Korean Reconciliation in 1992; chief negotiator to inter-Korean rice talks in Beijing in 1995; and head of the North Korean delegation to inter-Korean talks in 1998. Until 1998, he used the alias Kum-chol but started to use his real name Kum-jin in 2000 during his visit to Seoul as a senior councilor for ministerial talks, a follow-up to the historic inter-Korean summit. He became vice chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland in 1980, director of the reunification institute of the (North) Korean Academy of Social Science in 1984 and chief secretary of the Reunification Committee in 1985. Other appointments included vice chairman of the Anti-Nuclear and Peace Committee in 1989, assistant director of the Academy of Social Sciences in Pyongyang and deputy chief of the unification front bureau of the party’s Central Committee in 1994 and senior cabinet secretary in 2000. In 1992, Jon is reported to have lost his posts of chairman and unification research chief after then Premier Yon Hyong-muk was fired. In 1995, however, Jon received a visiting Japanese broadcast delegation as vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. Sources say Jon is both very knowledgeable and experienced in inter-Korean relations. South Korean officials have said he is less prone to making unreasonable demands in talks.

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