China Tuesday announced the arrival of a new ambassador of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to China.

"DPRK's new ambassador Ji Jae Ryong arrived in Beijing on Oct. 26," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at a regular press briefing.

Former ambassador Choe Pyong Gwan had returned to the DPRK, he said.

Prior to his appointment as ambassador to China, Ji was vice director of the publicity department of the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK).

Ji once served as ambassador to the former Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. He was vice director of the international department of the WPK central committee from 1996 to 2004. He was elected an alternate member of the WPK central committee last month.