North Korea, which has defined South Korea as a "hostile state" and has begun to abolish state agencies handling issues pertaining to cooperation with the South, is speculated to have established a post of first vice foreign minister in charge of inter-Korean affairs.

Ko Young-hwan, a North Korean diplomat-turned-defector who currently serves as a special aide to unification minister Kim Yung-ho, said at a forum on Friday that the North could appoint Ri Son-gwon, head of the ruling Workers' Party's United Front Department(UFD) as new vice minister.

The minister's aide said veterans at the UFD, which had dealt with inter-Korean talks and North Korea's policy with South Korea, could be transferred to the foreign ministry, while its adviser Kim Yong-chol, could move to the ministry or the reconnaissance general bureau.

Following regime leader Kim Jong-un's orders to disband agencies dealing with cross-border relations, foreign minister Choe Son-hui and Ri Son-gwon both attended a meeting last month to discuss ways to dismantle such agencies.

As he was referred to without his UFD title by the North's state media, instead as an official in charge of affairs with South Korea, it was speculated that the UFD may have been abolished.