KIM Jong-su was born in Busan in 1971 and has served since January 2026 as the Chairman of the South-North Korea Exchange and Cooperation Support Association, a public institution under the Ministry of Unification. Established in 2007, the Association has functioned as the implementing body for inter-Korean agreements, dedicated to managing and supporting South–North exchanges and cooperation principally through government-commissioned projects. From 2008 until January 2026, KIM held senior roles within the Democratic Party’s Policy Committee, including Chief Specialist for Unification and Director of the Policy Committee, through which he accumulated extensive experience in unification affairs. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from Dongguk University in North Korean Studies in 2007, and his publications include North Korean Youth League Studies (2008) and North Korean Youth and Unification (2018).