Profile of a spymaster: Cho Tae-yong, the new pick for South Korea’s spy chief

Cho was Yoon’s national security adviser, top envoy to US. Now the president wants him to serve as No. 1 of NIS.

SEOUL Dec. 21, 2023: Cho Tae-yong was tapped again by President Yoon Suk Yeol earlier this week to head the National Intelligence Service, marking his third presidential nomination under the administration that is less than two years old.

Since Yoon took power about a year and a half ago, Cho was made his ambassador to the US and then his national securi…