South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday tapped the chief of the parliamentary secretariat as his new top envoy to Russia, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said.

Woo Yoon-keun, secretary-general of the National Assembly, has been tapped as South Korea's new ambassador to Russia.

The lawyer-turned-politician has been serving in the parliamentary post since last year.
 
The former lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party has a doctorate degree in political science from Russia's Saint Petersburg State University.

Moon's nomination of Woo as the new chief of the South Korean mission in Moscow comes one day before the South Korean president is set to head to Russia's Vladivostok for a regional forum and a bilateral summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Moon earlier tapped the new heads of South Korean missions to the United States, Japan and China, which, together with Russia, are considered the four most powerful states surrounding the Korean Peninsula.

The new ambassadors will be appointed after their host nations endorse their appointment in a process known as "agrement," according to Cheong Wa Dae. (Yonhap)