Samsung exec to serve as top envoy in Hanoi

A Samsung Electronics executive was tapped to be the new ambassador to Vietnam on Sunday as part of a reshuffle of more than 20 consular posts.

Kim Do-hyun, an overseas mobile phone sales executive at Samsung and a former diplomat, was named Seoul’s top envoy to Vietnam.

Paik Ji-ah, president of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security, was appointed to head the country’s Permanent Mission to the UN Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva. She will be Korea’s first female representative there.

Other posts included 17 ambassadors and four consul generals.

Kim served in embassies in Iraq, Russia, Ukraine and Croatia before entering Samsung in 2013. His appointment may cause controversy because Samsung runs large mobile phone production lines in Vietnam.

Yonhap