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 most recently 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 nonpermanent 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 the month of February in 2013, Amb. Kim led the Council and deftly 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 was First Deputy Director for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) from 2009, 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. Amb. Kim began his diplomatic career in 1978.
KIM received his education at Seoul National University, and has joined the South Korean diplomatic service since 1978. He has held a variety of diplomatic positions in the United States, Canada, and India. In May 2011, KIM became South Korea’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. KIM was also the President of the United Nations Security Council in February 2014. From 2014-15, KIM has served as a visiting Fellow at the Asia-Pacific Research Center at the Stanford University. He has served as the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee in the National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA) in 2019-2021. Since April 2019, he is serving as the Executive Director of Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future.