"As Deputy Special Representative for North Korea, he helped negotiate my Summit with North Korean Leader, Kim Jong Un," Trump said. "Alex also led the State Department's efforts to implement the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy."

When he was in office, Wong was the No. 2 negotiator in denuclearization talks with North Korea. He led a U.S.-led campaign to address the North's nuclear and missile conundrum, including sanctions enforcement, counterproliferation and steps to curb and prevent the regime's illicit cyber activities.

Observers said that Trump's selection of Wong for the White House post raised the prospects of the incoming president looking to resume dialogue with the North, though it remains uncertain whether Pyongyang would accede to any diplomatic overture from Washington when it has a growing military partnership with Moscow.

During his election campaign, Trump repeatedly boasted about the "love letters" from Kim and his personal ties with him. He also said that "getting along" with the North Korean leader is a "good thing."

In a photo book published in September, Trump said that his summitry with Kim during his presidency showed that "real change" was "indeed" possible, portraying it as "honest, direct and productive."

Trump had three in-person meetings with Kim, including the first-ever summit between the two countries in Singapore in 2018. Since the no-deal summit in Hanoi in 2019, any meaningful nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled.

Wong received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was the managing editor of the Harvard Law Review and an editor of the Harvard International Law Journal. He earned his bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

He is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and served as the chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressionally appointed panel. (Yonhap)