[3] In March 1990, he was appointed Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In July 1990, he served as an adviser to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly.
At Japan–North Korea Pyongyang Declaration held in 2002, also at the Japan-North Korea summit on 2004, he greeted Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the airport in Pyongyang as courtesies.
[4] In August 2003, he joined Six-party talks as a Vice Foreign Minister of North Korea.
[5] After that, he was in charge of diplomatic negotiations with China and Japan, including the talk with Isao Iijima [ja] of Japan, on 2013–2014, former top aide of Koizumi and then a member of Shinzo Abe cabinet.