South Korea has picked Kim Do-gyun, a presidential secretary with military background, as its top delegate to upcoming general-grade talks with North Korea, a government official said Thursday.

"Kim will likely be assigned to the Ministry of National Defense around this weekend," the official said.

The ministry recently created a director-general position to lead its North Korea policy team. Kim will fill the post.


The two-star Army general is known for plenty of experience on North Korea affairs, having worked at the Ministry of National Defense. He participated in working-level talks with the North held at the truce village of Panmunjom in February 2011. He was also among the South's delegates to the high-level inter-Korean meeting in 2014.

He has served as President Moon Jae-in's secretary for national defense reform since last year.

"Kim is well aware of the government's North Korea policy direction," a ministry official said. "And his expertise on North Korea affairs was taken into account."

During their Panmunjom summit last week, the two Koreas agreed to hold general-level military talks in May to discuss tension-easing and confidence-building measures.(Yonhap)