Beijing: Liu Hongcai, who was earlier in the year appointed as the ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), arrived in Pyongyang last week to take up his duties, according to Foreign Ministry.

Liu, born in Liaoning province in 1955, studied Japanese at university, and graduated from the Beijing Second Foreign Languages Institute in 1975.

He started working for the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee the same year.

The department is in charge of party-to-party communications and exchanges between countries, and shares very close ties with the DPRK. In fact, the department is in charge of arranging DPRK leader Kim Jong-il's trips to China each time he visits the nation.

Liu was appointed as first secretary at the Chinese embassy in Japan in 1989.

According to his friend and colleague, Liu Jiangyong, who is a senior expert on East Asian studies at Tsinghua University, Liu Hongcai is very fluent in Japanese and excelled at his job in Tokyo.

"He is a down-to-earth person and easy to talk to. While in Japan he made broad connections with the people there. He had a good grasp of political policies and knew how to handle things properly. As a result, he was close to both the ruling and opposition parties in Japan at the time."

After concluding his services in Japan in 1992, Liu Hongcai returned to China and worked as vice-district chief of Jining city, in Shandong province for a year before resuming his duties at the CPC International Department.

He was in charge of East Asia affairs, including Japan and the Korean Peninsula, and had visited the DPRK a few times along with Chinese leaders.

Prior to being appointed ambassador to the DPRK, Liu Hongcai was vice-minister of the CPC International Department. He is widely considered the right person for the job due to his rich experience in the region.

"Japan is also very hopeful about his (Liu's) new posting to the DPRK. There are expectations that, with his work background in East Asia, Liu Hongcai will help promote better dialogue between Tokyo and Pyongyang," Liu Jiangyong said.