Simon Smith has been British Ambassador to the Republic of Korea since March 2018. He first visited North Korea and South Korea in 2002-4 when he was Head of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office’s NE Asia & Pacific Department. He has served as British Ambassador to Ukraine and to Austria – where he was also the UK’s Permanent Representative to UN and international organizations in Vienna and the UK Governor on the Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He began his career in the Diplomatic Service in 1986 and has also worked – largely on economic, trade, and investment issues – at the British Embassies in Tokyo and Moscow. Simon is from Bristol and studies German and French at Oxford University.