Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF REPUBLIC OF KOREA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Kim Sam-hoon, 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 current appointment, Mr. Kim held a range of posts in the service of his Government, beginning in the Foreign Affairs Ministry in 1968, upon his graduation from the College of Law, Seoul National University.  Most recently, he served for three years as Ambassador to Canada (1999 to 2002).

After serving as Ambassador to Brazil from 1996 to 1998, Mr. Kim became the Deputy Minister for International Organizations and Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul.

In 1993, he was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Ambassador for the North Korean Nuclear Issue, a position he held until 1994.

From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Kim acted as the Deputy Permanent Representative of his country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.  In that capacity, he attended several meetings of international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. Kim held three Director-General positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  From 1990 to 1991, he served as the Director-General of the International Trade Bureau, after serving as Director-General of the Ministry’s American Affairs Bureau (1989 to 1990) and its Information and Cultural Affairs Bureau in 1989.

Also in 1989, Mr. Kim participated in the preliminary talks for the first high-level South-North Korean dialogue of 1990, as a member of the South Korean delegation.

During his diplomatic career, which has spanned 35 years so far, Mr. Kim held a number of other positions, including:  Counsellor at the Korean Embassy in the United States (1984 to 1987); Counsellor at the Korean Embassy in Saudi Arabia (1981 to 1983); First Secretary at the Korean Embassy in the United States (1979 to 1981); and Consul at the Korean Consulate General in Chicago, Illinois (1971 to 1975).

Mr. Kim was also Director-General of the International Affairs Bureau of the Seoul Olympic Organization Committee from 1987 to 1988.

He holds his country’s Order of Service Merit (Green Stripes) and Sport Merit Medal of Honour, as well as the Ordem Nacional do Cruzeiro do Sul of Brazil.

Born on 12 January 1944, Mr. Kim is married with two children.

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