Kim Yeon-chul (; born 26 March 1964) is a South Korean associate professor of unification at Inje University who served as Minister of Unification under President

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...

from April 2019 to June 2020. Before promoted to Minister, Kim was the president of the

Korea Institute for National Unification The Korea Institute for National Unification is a think tank funded by the South Korean government focusing on issues related to Korean reunification. It is one of the 25 institutes under the auspices of the National Research Council for Econom ...

, a government-funded research institute. He was previously a policy advisor to then-Minister of Unification

Chung Dong-young Chung Dong-young (; born 27 July 1953) is a South Korean politician who was the nominee of the United New Democratic Party in the 2007 South Korean presidential election. In June 2025, Chung was nominated to be South Korea's unification minist ...

from 2004 to 2006. After completing his doctorate programme, he joined

Samsung Economic Research Institute Samsung Global Research (SGR) is a private-sector think tank in South Korea, covering various research areas; from high-tech to issues and trends shaping the East Asian East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mon ...

as its senior researcher. He was also the first president of

The Hankyoreh ''The Hankyoreh'' () is a centre-left liberal daily newspaper in South Korea. It was established in 1988 after widespread purges forced out dissident journalists, and was envisioned as an alternative to existing newspapers, which were regarde ...

's research institute on peace studies. Kim holds three degrees in political science from

Sungkyunkwan University Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU or ''Seongdae'', ) is a private research university with campuses in Seoul and Suwon, South Korea. The institution traces its origins to the historic Sungkyunkwan founded in 1398 in central Seoul.Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (, ; born January 24, 1953) is a South Korean politician and former lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea from 2017 to 2022. Before his presidency, he served as the senior secretary for civil affairs and the Chief ...

officially accepted his resignation as the Minister of Unification. In February 2025, Kim was sentenced to a suspended prison term of six months by the Seoul Central District Court for abuse of power involving the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen who had killed 16 of their colleagues in the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

in 2019.

References

Sungkyunkwan University alumni Living people 1964 births People from Donghae, Gangwon Government ministers of South Korea Scholars of North Korea Academic staff of Inje University South Korean international relations scholars South Korean political scientists {{Korea-academic-bio-stub