North Korea has recently replaced the head of the Red Cross in the country, a major channel of exchange with South Korea, the international Red Cross group’s member list showed Thursday.

Kang Su-rin has recently supplanted Jang Jae-on as the chairman of the central committee of the Red Cross Society of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, according to the member list of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The country did not make public the personnel change, but the list showed that Kang began to represent the North’s Red Cross in early May.

The replacement led to the removal of the 77-year-old official from the top position of a major inter-Korean exchange channel, which he had kept for over a decade. Red Cross entities of South and North Korea serve as channels to arrange emergency humanitarian aid as well as reunion events for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.

The newly installed 61-year-old chairman is a veteran official well versed in inter-Korean affairs. Serving in the North’s United Front Department ― the ministry handling relations with the South ― Kang has participated in major inter-Korean talks and joint inter-Korean events and accompanied United Front Department chief Kim Yang-gon when Kim made a trip to Seoul in 2007.

Since November, Kang has also been heading the North Korean association of Buddhists, a religious association controlled by the North Korean regime. (Yonhap News)