South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Friday appointed new heads of the country’s intelligence service, unification ministry, and the Presidential Office of National Security, in a major reshuffle of top officials dealing with the North.

Moon plans to appoint Suh Hoon, former head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), as the new director of national security at the Blue House, spokesperson Kang Min-seok said.

Kang hailed Suh as “a foreign affairs and security expert coming from the NIS… who designed the Moon Jae-in administration’s diplomacy and security pledges.”

His contacts with high-level U.S. and Japanese officials, the spokesperson continued, “successfully planned and coordinated pending issues such as inter-Korean and DPRK-U.S. summits.”

Suh’s appointment, Kang argued, would enable Seoul to make further progress in the “peaceful resolution” of the North Korean nuclear issue.

“I feel a sense of heavy responsibility, taking charge of such an important task at a grave period at home and abroad,” Suh said in a speech on Friday following his appointment, which could see him begin the new role as early as Monday.

“I will make endless efforts to achieve complete denuclearization on the Korean peninsula,” he went on, expressing regret about a recent escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula. “It is important to get sustained support from the international community regarding our North Korea policy.”

“With our ally, the U.S., we will more closely communicate and cooperate,” he went on, stressing the need for a “strong national defense.”

Replacing Suh as head of Seoul’s spy agency is veteran South Korean lawmaker and inter-Korean interlocuter Park Jie-won, a member of the Intelligence Committee during his time in the 18th, 19th, and 20th National Assemblies.

“Candidate Park Jie-won contributed to drawing forth the inter-Korean summit agreement in 2000,” spokesperson Kang told reporters.

Stressing Park’s expertise in North Korea and inter-Korean relations, Kang said he would be apt to “fulfill the NIS’s duty: guaranteeing national security.”

Park’s appointment will, however, require confirmation from the country’s National Assembly — hearings that may see lawmakers raise questions about his role in the illegal transfer of funds to North Korea when serving as the late President Kim Dae-jung’s chief presidential secretary in the early 2000s.

Suh Hoon replaces Chung Eui-yong, the former director of the Blue House’s Office of the National Security, who has been appointed to serve as a special advisor to President Moon.

Resigning on Friday after three years in the role, Chung said that while the Korean peninsula was going through a “difficult” time, while emphasizing that the trust built by Pyongyang, Seoul, and Washington over the last few years will not have been in vain.

“I have stories I’d like to tell you about things I went through serving as the director of national security office, but now is not the time,” he said.

Controversial former chief of staff to President Moon, Im Jong-seok — under scrutiny earlier in the year for his role in an election-meddling scandal — will be appointed as Moon’s special advisor for foreign affairs and national security.

“We expect that he will play a big role in defending national interest and settling peace on the Korean Peninsula,” said Blue House spokesperson Kang.

Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in on Friday also nominated four-term ruling party lawmaker Lee In-young to serve as the country’s new unification minister.

Lee, like NIS head nominee Park Jie-won, will require confirmation from the National Assembly before he can take on the new role.

The position has been vacant since mid-June, when then-incumbent Kim Yeon-chul resigned following North Korea’s demolition of an inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong.

The Blue House on Friday described Lee as well-qualified to “resolve stalled inter-Korean relations creatively” and make progress in recovering trust between the two Koreas.

One expert said the appointment suggested the Blue House was seeking new ways to help restore damaged inter-Korean relations.

“Tapping former lawmaker Park Jie-won as the head of NIS shows the President’s will to resume inter-Korean dialogue channel,” Cheong Seong-Chang, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, told NK News.

“His past experience in communicating with the North was likely considered.”

Edited by Oliver Hotham