Kang Sok Ju, the regime's FirstVice Foreign Minister and the man who negotiated the 1994 Agreed Framework nuclear deal with the Clinton administration, was named Vice Premier.
Glyn Davies, the U.S. envoy on North Korea, will meet Feb. 23 with North Korean FirstVice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Monday.
Ms Dastjerdi was the first woman minister of the Islamic republic, although a woman did serve as vice-president for the environment under Mohammad Khatami.