North Korea Appoints 1st Female Foreign Minister

North Korea named a top nuclear negotiator, Choe Son Hui, as the nation's first female foreign minister, state media reported Saturday.

The female diplomat was appointed at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea from June 8-10, overseen by North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un, according to KCNA.

Her appointment comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula as the North aggressively ramps up its weapons testing program in defiance of United Nations sanctions.

On Tuesday, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim warned that Washington believes North Korea is preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test -- which would be its first since 2017.

In the same vein, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the North is "readying their nuclear test site," warning the situation surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear program "is quite concerning because we have seen a fast-forward in every line," based on the activity at the Punggye-ri site.

Last week, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North fired eight short-range ballistic missiles into waters off its east coast, in a move Japan called “unprecedented”.

The missiles were launched from the Sunan region, near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, into waters east of the Korean Peninsula between 9:08-9:43 a.m. local time in Seoul on Sunday, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The presidential office said South Korea’s National Security Chief Kim Sung Han will hold a meeting of the National Security Council Standing Committee to discuss the launch.