She is the adopted daughter of the former Prime Minister, a 55-year-old female official who entered the inner circle of Kim Jong-un.
On April 12, the first meeting of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK closed in Pyongyang. At this meeting, Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea, was re-elected as the chairman of the State Council. Cui Longhai succeeded Jin Yongnan as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and Cui Longhai was also appointed as the first vice chairman of the State Council.
In addition, Park Fengzhu was elected as the vice chairman of the State Council; Jin Cailong, Li Wanjian, Li Zhuyong, Yeong-cheol Kim, Taizong Xiu, Li Yonghao, Su gil Kim, Nu Guangtie, Zheng Jingxuan, Cui Fuyi and Cui Shanji were elected as members. As a result, a new leadership team headed by Kim Jong-un was formed in North Korean politics. Jin Cailong succeeded Park Fengzhu as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, and unanimously adopted the list of cabinet members proposed by Jin Cailong.
Cui Shanji (first row, left)
The list of the new DPRK Council of State includes Yeong-cheol Kim, vice chairman of the Labor Party Central Committee in charge of DPRK’s negotiations with the United States, Li Yonghao, foreign minister, and Cui Shanji, former vice foreign minister. Among them, Cui Shanji is the first State Councilor, and she is also the only woman in the new DPRK State Councilor.
According to a photo report published in Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Cui Shanji has been promoted to be the first deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to replace Kim Kye Gwan. Yonhap News Agency and other media explained that as an "American expert" in North Korea, Cui Shanji has always stood in the front line in two DPRK-US summit meetings, and her promotion shows that North Korea attaches importance to its diplomacy with the United States; She will play a greater role in the follow-up dialogue between the DPRK and the United States.
Cui Shanji (network map)
According to Korean media reports, Cui Shanji was born in 1964 and is the adopted daughter of former North Korean Prime Minister Cui Yonglin. According to Korea Economy, Cui Shanji has received excellent education since childhood. She has studied in Austria, Malta and China, and is proficient in English and familiar with the western world.
Since 1980s, Cui Shanji has worked in the DPRK Foreign Ministry as a researcher and interpreter. His face is well known overseas because from 2003 to 2008, Cui Shanji was the chief translator of the DPRK in the six-party talks on the DPRK nuclear issue. In August 2009, when former US President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang, Cui Shanxi worked as a translator. In 2010, Cui Shanji was promoted to deputy director of the North American Bureau of the DPRK Foreign Ministry, and attended the denuclearization talks held in Bali in July the following year as the deputy representative of the DPRK. In 2016, she became the director of the North American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and won the trust of Kim Jong-un, the top leader of North Korea.
DPRK Foreign Minister Li Yonghao (right) and Vice Foreign Minister Cui Shanji (left)
It is reported that Cui Shanji has an extraordinary relationship with members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the current Workers’ Party of Korea, member of the DPRK State Council and DPRK Foreign Minister Li Yonghao. Li Yonghao’s father, Li Mingji, was Kim Jong Il’s big housekeeper and served as the organization minister of the CPC Central Committee.
South Korea’s News1 news agency said that Cui Shanji was a "witness" to the talks on the DPRK nuclear issue. Since the 1990s, North Korea’s nuclear negotiators have been constantly changing, but from translators to negotiators, Cui Shanji has been active in this field. As a rare female senior official in North Korea, Cui Shanji’s dress is often discussed. "Korea Economy" said that Cui Shanji is strong and open-minded, and has a good family background. Cui Shanji is regarded as the "veteran" diplomat who can conduct in-depth dialogue with the United States in the DPRK Foreign Ministry.