The ROK and the United Nations
October 25, 2022 - In honor of the United Nations Day, Asia Society Korea hosted a special session of the Monthly Lecture Series with H.E. Joon Oh, former South Korean ambassador to the UN, and Yong-Min Park, current Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs. The lecture began with H.E. Oh Joon's statement, "After South Korea became a member of the UN, there have been many first times for South Korea during the last 30 years."
The two speakers spoke on their diplomatic experiences, as well as past, present, and future issues pertaining to South Korea at the United Nations. South Korea recently lost its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, which H.E. Joon Oh described as a "wake-up call" for the country to "stop trying to do something new." Rather, "concentrate on the quality of engagement”, Yong-Min Park advised.
H.E. Joon Oh, Board Member, Asia Society Korea (Moderator)
Oh Joon is a professor of United Nations studies at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea. He is also the chair of Save the Children Korea and a board member of Save the Children International. Previously he was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in New York from 2013 to 2016. During that time, he also served as the 71st president of the Economic and Social Council and as president of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2015 and 2016.
Before that, he was the Korean ambassador to Singapore (2010–13) and deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul (2008–10). The Korean government twice awarded him the Order of Service Merit, in 1996 and 2006. In 2018, Oh received a Global Korea Award from Michigan State University. Rehabilitation International gave him a Global Presidential Award in 2016 in acknowledgment of his achievements as president of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He also received the 2014 Youngsan Diplomat of the Year award for his work on North Korean human rights issues.
He published his first book in Korean, For Mica, Who Contemplates Life, in 2015. He received a master’s degree in international policy studies from Stanford University in 1991.
Read more about H.E. Oh Joon's work with Save the Children here.
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Yong-Min Park, Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs, MOFA
Park Yong-Min is the Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs, Ministry of Affairs, Republic of Korea (MOFA). After graduating from Yonsei University's Department of Political Science and Diplomacy, he earned a master's degree in international politics from Cambridge University in the U.K. Park joined the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1991 and has since continued his work within MOFA.
He worked in political affairs, commerce, general affairs, and consular affairs at the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia. In 2009, Park was the director of North Korean Nuclear Affairs Negotiations Division, North Korean Nuclear Affairs Bureau, and also worked as Consul General for Korean Consulate General in Sendai, Japan.
Last year, before taking on the role as Deputy Minister, Park also served as a professor at the Korean National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), MOFA. He has also authored numerous publications, including The Movie Buff’s Guide to New York published in 2019.
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