Ri Gwang-geun

RI GWANG-GEUN (1953- ). According to reports in the Republic of Korea (ROK) in 2010, in 2009 Ri was a deputy director of the Korean Workers' Party (KWP) Central Committee United Front Department, with oversight for inter-Korean economic affairs, and an executive of the Daepung International Investment Group. He was previously minister of foreign trade of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from 2000 to 2004. His father was one of DPRK leader Kim Il Sung's personal physicians and director of the Bonghwa Clinic, the special hospital for the DPRK elite in Pyongyang. Ri is a graduate of the German department of the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies and of Kim Il Sung University. From 1977 to 1979, he was attached to the Ministry of Foreign Trade, and then to the State External Economic Affairs Commission. In 1987, he was a first secretary for trade matters in the DPRK embassy in East Berlin, but by 1991, was back with the External Economic Affairs Commission. As minister for foreign trade from December 2000, he tried to capitalize on the developing relations with European countries. As well as German, he has a reasonable command of English.

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