DPRK Ambassador to Italy, Chosen Soren Chairman Appointed

Kim Chun Guk (Photo: European Institute of Asian Studies)

DPRK state media reported on 18 May (Friday) that the Supreme People’s Assembly [SPA] Presidium appointed Kim Chun Guk as the country’s new ambassador to Italy.  Kim has served as the director of the DPRK Foreign Ministry’s European Bureau (department) for a number of years.  During the late 1990s and early 2000s Kim managed negotiations with the European Union and participated in the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom in 2000, Spain in January 2001, Germany in March 2001 and Luxembourg, also in March 2001.  It is not clear what nonresident ambassadorships Kim will hold.  His predecessor in Rome, Han Tae Song, was also nonresident ambassador to Malta, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Cyprus and San Marino.  KCNA reports:

Kim Chun Guk was appointed as DPRK ambassador to Italy, according to a decree of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly.

Meanwhile, Ho Jong Man has been appointed chairman of Chosen Soren (General Association of Korean Residents in Japan; Chongryon), filling the vacancy left by the February 2012 death of So Man Sul.  KCNA/Kyodo report:

The pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan said Saturday Ho Jong Man, its chief vice chairman, has been chosen as its new chairman.

The move came after So Man Sul, former chairman of the group known as Chongryon, died of heart failure in February. So had been chairman since May 2001.

IOC Expresses Concern about doping by DPRK WWC Team

AFP reports that the head of the International Olympic Committee’s Medical Commission is “looking into” the DPRK’s internal control processes for its athletes who use anabolic steroids, after two players from the DPRK’s women’s soccer team tested positive for the performance enhancers during the 2011 Women’s World Cup.

Professor Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC’s Medical Commission, has said he will look into the matter after North Korean defenders Song Jong-Sun and Jong Pok-Sim failed doping tests at Germany 2011.

The pair were removed from the lineup for North Korea’s goalless draw with Colombia in Bochum on Wednesday and with their team eliminated, the squad left Germany early on Thursday morning to return home.

Ljungqvist says he wants to know more about testing in North Korea, but is realistic about finding out more about doping checks in the Asian totalitarian state.

“I understand the mistrust of others, but I do not really know much about doping controls in this country, which has a closed society like no other in the world,” said Ljungqvist at the 123rd IOC Session in Durban, South Africa.

Football’s governing body FIFA had the remaining 19 members of the North Korean team tested for banned substances after their final group game and have asked for Song and Jong’s B samples to be examined.

In total, there have now been three failed doping tests at the women’s World Cup after Colombian player Yineth Varon failed an out-of-competition test in Leverkusen on 25 June.

Chang Ung (Photo: ITF)

The news of Professor Ljungqvist’s concerns occurred after Japan exempted the DPRK’s IOC representative, Chang Ung, from an October 2006 ban on DPRK nationals traveling to that country.  According to Kyodo, Chang has been allowed to attend the 14 July (Thursday) Olympic Committee of Asia meeting and will remain in the country from 11 July (Monday) to 17 July (Sunday).