The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday announced a roster of new ambassadors to 15 countries including Vietnam, Singapore, Uzbekistan and Finland as part of a regular reshuffle of senior envoys.
Lee Hyuk, ambassador for international relations to Incheon City and former representative to the Philippines, was tapped to head the embassy in Vietnam. Lee Sang-deok, former director general for Northeast Asian affairs at the ministry, was appointed the new ambassador to Singapore.
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President Park Geun-hye (left) shakes hands with Lee Sang-deok, South Korea’s new ambassador to Singapore, during the appointment ceremony in Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday. (Yonhap) |
Kwon Yong-woo, former director general for Korean Peninsula peace regime at the ministry, was named as ambassador to Uzbekistan, while Ambassador to Laos Kim Soo-gwon will move to Finland.
Lee Yeong-man, chief of the Air Force Academy and a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was named as ambassador to Lebanon, where some 300 Korean soldiers are participating in peacekeeping operations.
Kim Hyo-eun, former director of strategy, policy and communications at the Global Green Growth Institute, became the first female ambassador under the Park Geun-hye government, leading the mission in Senegal. The 39-year-old diplomat also served as director for climate change and environment at the ministry and a counsellor at the mission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
The other nine envoys are Bahk Sahng-hoon, former director-general for Latin American and Caribbean affairs at the ministry (Panama); Ambassador to Kuwait Shin Boo-nam (Bulgaria); Park Kang-ho, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and former consul-general in Boston (United Arab Emirates); Kim Yong-ho, embassy minister and consul-general in Belgium (Belarus); Kim Dong-chan, deputy consul general in Dallas (Angola); Lee In-ho, former director general for foreign and national security policy at the Office for Government Policy Coordination (El Salvador); Kang Do-ho, embassy minister in Washington (Oman); Lee Bom-yon, ambassador for international relations to South Jeolla Province and former consul general in Sendai (Jordan); and Yoo Yeon-chul, former deputy representative at the mission to the U.N. and other international organizations in Geneva (Kuwait).
By Shin Hyon-hee (
heeshin@heraldcorp.com)
