REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File PhotoSEOUL, June 29 (Reuters) - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday picked a conservative scholar and an outspoken critic of North Korea's human rights record as the country's new unification minister handling relations with Pyongyang in a cabinet reshuffle. Kim, 63, served as a presidential secretary for unification and a human rights envoy under the conservative Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. North Korea has long rejected criticism of its rights conditions as part of a plot to overthrow its rulers. Kim is the right person to pursue a "principle-based" and consistent North Korea policy, said Yoon's chief of staff, Kim Dae-ki. The unification ministry's role ranges from cross-border dialogue and exchanges to studying human rights abuses in North Korea and helping defectors resettle in the South.

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Persons: Kim Hong, Yoon Suk, Kim Yung, Yoon, Kim, Lee Myung, Kim Jong, Kim Dae, Jang Mi, Soo, hyang Choi, Hyunsu Yim, Jack Kim, Ed Davies, Gerry Doyle Organizations: South, REUTERS, Sungshin Women's University, North, Thomson Locations: Korean, South Korean, Paju, South Korea, SEOUL, Pyongyang, North Korea, North Korean, Korea, United States