Biography
Ambassador Park Joon-woo, Chairman of The Sejong Institute and former Senior Secretary to the President for Political Affairs, is a career diplomat who served 33 years at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
He served as Ambassador to the European and to Singapore. His overseas assignments include Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Beijing and Helsinki. During his tenure as Ambassador in Brussels, Korea and EU upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership following the conclusion of new Framework Agreement and Free Trade Agreement in 2010. He also contributed to the establishment of Korea-NATO partnership.
Back home, he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination 2006-2008. He worked for Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as Senior Advisor 2005-2006. He served twice at the Presidential Office for Foreign and Security Affairs.
Since he studied at Keio University, 1990-1991, he was closely involved in Korea-Japan relations as head of political section of the Korean Embassy in Tokyo, Director for Japanese Affairs, Deputy DG and Director-General for Asia-Pacific Affairs of the Korean Foreign Ministry. He negotiated 1998 Joint Declaration for Korea-Japan Partnership between President Kim Dae-joong and Prime Minister Obuchi Keijo. He carried out three Korea-Japan Shuttle Summits, 2004-2005, as Director-General. During the period, he also carried out negotiations against China to resolve the issues of China’s Northeast History Project and North Korean refugees.
After retirement in July 2011, he was appointed as Koret Fellow of the Walter Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, USA, teaching a graduate class on “Korean Foreign Policy in Transition: Korea’s Bilateral Relations with Her Major Neighboring Countries” In September 2012, he was appointed as Visiting Professor at Yonsei University’s Institute for State Governance.
August 2013-June 2014, Ambassador Park was appointed as President Park Geun-hye’s Senior Secretary for Political Affairs. He now serves as Chairman of The Sejong Institute, Korea’s leading independent think-tank, since February 2015.
He served as Ambassador to the European and to Singapore. His overseas assignments include Washington, D.C., Tokyo, Beijing and Helsinki. During his tenure as Ambassador in Brussels, Korea and EU upgraded their relations to a strategic partnership following the conclusion of new Framework Agreement and Free Trade Agreement in 2010. He also contributed to the establishment of Korea-NATO partnership.
Back home, he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination 2006-2008. He worked for Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon as Senior Advisor 2005-2006. He served twice at the Presidential Office for Foreign and Security Affairs.
Since he studied at Keio University, 1990-1991, he was closely involved in Korea-Japan relations as head of political section of the Korean Embassy in Tokyo, Director for Japanese Affairs, Deputy DG and Director-General for Asia-Pacific Affairs of the Korean Foreign Ministry. He negotiated 1998 Joint Declaration for Korea-Japan Partnership between President Kim Dae-joong and Prime Minister Obuchi Keijo. He carried out three Korea-Japan Shuttle Summits, 2004-2005, as Director-General. During the period, he also carried out negotiations against China to resolve the issues of China’s Northeast History Project and North Korean refugees.
After retirement in July 2011, he was appointed as Koret Fellow of the Walter Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, USA, teaching a graduate class on “Korean Foreign Policy in Transition: Korea’s Bilateral Relations with Her Major Neighboring Countries” In September 2012, he was appointed as Visiting Professor at Yonsei University’s Institute for State Governance.
August 2013-June 2014, Ambassador Park was appointed as President Park Geun-hye’s Senior Secretary for Political Affairs. He now serves as Chairman of The Sejong Institute, Korea’s leading independent think-tank, since February 2015.
