The South Korean government has informally decided to appoint Park Cheol-hee, the brains behind President Yoon Suk-yeol's diplomatic policies, as the country's next ambassador to Japan, government sources revealed Monday.
An expert on South Korea-Japan relations, Park currently heads the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA). Fluent in Japanese, Park has broad connections within Japanese political circles.
After graduating from Seoul National University and obtaining a Ph.D. in politics from Columbia University, he took up posts including chief at SNU's Institute for Japanese Studies, before assuming his current position of KNDA chancellor in March last year.