S. Korea to name defector to lead unification education

SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea plans to appoint a defector as the head of a government body in charge of educating its citizens on unification with North Korea, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.
A formal announcement is scheduled for Wednesday, the ministry said in a news release.
Cho Myung-chul will lead the Education Center for Unification for two years. The center is affiliated with the ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.
Cho is the first North Korean defector to become a senior government official in South Korea, home to more than 21,000 North Korean defectors, according to the ministry.
Cho "is expected to contribute to the development of education on unification as he has rich experience and expertise on the issue of North Korea and unification," the ministry said in the news release.
Cho was born in North Korea and taught economics in Kim Il-sung University, the North's elite institution named after the country's founder, before defecting to the South in 1994.
In Seoul, Cho worked for the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, a state-funded think tank.
The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a truce, not a peace treaty.