North Korea’s Second Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui has been promoted to First Vice Foreign Minister. 

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling Workers' Party, identified Choe with her new title on its Web site on Friday, along with other new members of the State Affairs Commission following a reshuffle of North Korean leadership during the country’s Supreme People’s Assembly meeting on Thursday. 

The promotion of the former director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry’s North American department will likely further raise her clout in talks with the U.S. after playing important roles in negotiations leading up to the two countries’ two summits.

She was also elected to the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly last month, and was elected as a member of the central committee of the Workers' Party on Wednesday. On Thursday, she was also elected as a member of the State Affairs Commission as well as the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Supreme People's Assembly. 

The North’s former First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan was not found on the list of the new members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and presumed to have retired or been assigned to a less important job.