Ministry names 14 to new ambassadorial posts

Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Yong-joon was appointed South Korea's new ambassador to Malaysia in a reshuffle that also affected 13 other ambassadorial posts, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

Lee, 53, is a career diplomat with three decades of service in various posts, including being South Korea's deputy nuclear negotiator from 2006-2007. His overseas posts have included the United States, Thailand, Vietnam and France. Lee has been deputy minister since March 2008.

Former ambassador to Singapore Kim Joong-keun was also appointed ambassador to India, while Kim Young-seok, who served as the ministry's director-general for European affairs, was named ambassador to Italy, according to a ministry statement.

Choi Choong-joo, former consul general in Vancouver, took the post of ambassador to Pakistan, and Park Dong-sun, ambassador for international economic cooperation, was appointed ambassador to Finland. Deputy spokesman Choe Jong-hyun was named ambassador to Oman, the ministry said.

Other reshuffled posts include the ambassadors to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iran, Nicaragua, Honduras, Paraguay, Sudan and Yemen, and consuls general to New York, Nagoya, Vancouver, Sao Paulo and Dubai.

New ambassador to Paraguay Park Dong-won, now minister counselor at the embassy in Brazil, will be the only female head of a current South Korean diplomatic mission overseas, the ministry said.

Other former female heads of the country's diplomatic missions include Lee In-ho, who served as ambassador to Finland and Russia, and former ambassador to Tunisia Kim Kyung-im.

Yonhap