Ambassador KIM Sook served with more than thirty-five years of experience in foreign service and intelligence, with key postings in Washington, D.C., New York, New Delhi, San Francisco, Toronto, and within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Korea. He is well regarded for his expertise in Korea-US relations, inter-Korean relations, and the North Korean nuclear issue.
Amb. Kim served as the Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations from July 2011 to September 2013. Having overseen a successful campaign for non-permanent membership to the Security Council (2013-14), he led the ROK delegation in the Security Council’s activities in 2013. As President of the Security Council for February 2013, Amb. Kim led the Council and handled the Council’s action regarding North Korea’s ballistic missile launch and third nuclear test. Amb. Kim also served as a Co-Chair for the Bureau of the Preparatory Process of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) and President of the Executive Board of the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in 2012.Amb. Kim served as First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) from 2009 to 2011, where he worked extensively on national security, including intelligence, preemption of security threats, and regional security issues. Amb. Kim has also served as Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs at MOFAT in Seoul and led the ROK delegation in the Six-Party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue in 2008.
After retirement from foreign service, he was a visiting fellow at the Asia-Pacific Research Center(APARC) at Stanford University in 2014-2015. He was Chair Professor at Sejong University in 2016-2018.