NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF REPUBLIC OF KOREA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
Press Release
BIO/3282
NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF REPUBLIC OF KOREA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS
20000331 Biographical Note(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)
Sun Joun-yung, the new Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Prior to his present appointment, Mr. Sun was Vice-Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1998. Before then, he was Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva and other international organizations there from 1996 to 1998.
He was Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul from 1993 to 1996. He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Czechoslovakia in 1990, becoming Ambassador- at-Large for Trade Negotiations three years later.
Mr. Sun was Director-General of the International Trade Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1990, after serving as Director-General of the Ministrys International Economic Affairs Bureau from 1987 to 1988.
During his long diplomatic career, which began in November 1963, Mr.Sun has held a number of positions, including Minister for Economic Affairs in the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1986); Minister at the Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office in Geneva (1984); Minister in the Korean Embassy in Brasilia, Brazil (1981); and Counsellor for Political Affairs in the Korean Embassy in London, United Kingdom (1978).
His experiences in international organizations include serving as Chairman of the World Trade Organization Council for Trade Services in Geneva from 1997 to 1998; Coordinator of the Western Group, Conference on Disarmament, in Geneva in 1997; and Chairman of the International Textile and Clothing Bureau in Geneva.
Mr. Sun has also been involved in trade and other negotiations, acting from 1994 to 1995 as Chief Negotiator on the Republic of Korea-European Community Framework Agreement for Trade and Cooperation from 1994 to 1995. He was Government Coordinator for the Republic of Koreas Accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) during that period and was Co-Chairman of his countrys economic joint committees, respectively, with China, Canada, Viet Nam, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and the Association of
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South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 1993 to 1995. From 1985 to 1986, he headed his countrys delegation at the Geneva Multi-Fiber Arrangement negations.
Mr. Sun holds his countrys Civil Service Merit Medal of Honour and the Order of Civil Service Merit (Red Stripes).
He is a graduate of the College of Law, Seoul National University, and also studied at the School of International Service of the American University in Washington, D.C.
Born on 16 June 1939, Mr. Sun is married with two children.
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