South Korea picks critic of North's rights record as unification minister

FILE PHOTO: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers his speech during a ceremony marking the 68th Memorial Day at the National cemetery in Seoul, South Korea, June 6, 2023. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File Photo

SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday picked a conservative scholar and an outspoken critic of North Korea's human rights record as the country's new unification minister handling relations with Pyongyang in a cabinet reshuffle.

The nomination of Kim Yung-ho, a political science professor at Sungshin Women's University, comes as Yoon has been seeking to shine a spotlight on human rights abuses in North Korea and as tensions on the Korean peninsula have spiked.