President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Wednesday nominated Rep. Kwon Young-se, a prosecutor-turned-lawmaker with four National Assembly terms and former ambassador to China, as Unification Minister.

Kwon is a close and trusted confidant of Yoon and was named vice-chairman of the presidential transition committee after he took the helm of Yoon’s campaign team as the leader. They also studied law together at Seoul National University.

The appointment has been largely viewed as Yoon’s resolve to make a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations by empowering the Unification Ministry.

The nominee has “taken a lot of interest “ in the issues of North Korea, denuclearization, and unification based on his “expertise in unification and diplomacy and wide experience,” Yoon’s transition committee said.

Kwon served as the South Korean Ambassador to China during the Park Geun-hye administration. In 2010, he also published the translation of the “Reluctant Realists,” a book examining Germany’s unification and foreign policies, after he studied the unification process at Germany‘s Federal Ministry of Justice.

The nominee also publicly voiced opposition to People Power Party chairman Lee Jun-seok’s proposal to abolish the Unification Ministry last year.

Kwon on Wednesday said he will pursue a principle-based approach to inter-Korean relations, but at the same time, he will make “practical and reasonable decisions” on the matter.

(dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)