Lee taps next-gen officials for foreign policy team ahead of G7 trip

President Lee Jae-myung’s foreign policy team is taking shape ahead of his diplomatic debut at the G7 summit, with the surprising appointment of relatively young vice ministers in a break with Korea’s long-established system of seniority.

At the same time, veteran diplomat Cho Hyun, who previously served as both first and second vice minister, as well as UN ambassador, under the liberal Moon Jae-in government, concurrent with the first Trump administration, has all but secured his place as the leading candidate for foreign minister.

The Foreign Ministry appeared to find the presidential office’s announcement on Tuesday unexpected, as Park Yoon-joo — appointed first vice foreign minister — had a shorter career in the civil service than several officials who would now report to him.

Park passed the 29th foreign service exam in 1995, making him 11 years junior to his predecessor, Kim Hong-kyun, who passed the 18th foreign service exam.

In terms of years of service since passing the foreign service exam, Park is also the junior of the current deputy ministers for political affairs, protocol affairs, and planning and coordination — all of whom he now directly oversees.

At the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, where a rigid seniority-based culture prevails, it is considered virtually unprecedented for someone so junior in years of service to be appointed as first vice foreign minister, overseeing bilateral affairs and personnel management.

However, Park is not the youngest person to serve as first vice minister; the previous Moon Jae-in administration appointed Choi Jong-kun to the post in 2020 when he was just 46 years old.

Park reportedly has a long-standing relationship with National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac, dating back to their time working together at the presidential office.

When Wi was dispatched from the Foreign Ministry to the transition committee during the Roh Moo-hyun administration in 2002 and 2003, Park was serving at Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office and residence also known as the Blue House. In 2004, when Wi was posted to Washington as minister at the South Korean Embassy, Park also served alongside him as first secretary at the same embassy.

Park’s most recent position was minister at South Korea’s mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, but most of his career has been devoted to diplomacy vis-a-vis the US.

Park has served as first secretary at the Embassy in Washington, director of North American Affairs, deputy consul general at the Korean Consulate General in Boston, deputy director-general at the Bureau of North American Affairs, and consul general in Atlanta.

Kim Jina, a professor in the Department of Language and Diplomacy at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, was appointed second vice foreign minister, overseeing multilateral and economic affairs.

Born in 1979, Kim is also younger than most director-general-level officials who head the bureaus, serving as the ministry’s backbone. Her predecessor, Kang In-sun, was born in 1964.

Kim played an active role in the “Responsible Global Power Committee,” which helped shape Lee Jae-myung’s foreign, security and unification policies during his presidential campaign, serving as vice chair of the committee’s Practical Diplomacy Subcommittee.

The committee was co-chaired by Lee Jong-seok, the current nominee for director of the National Intelligence Service and former unification minister under the Roh Moo-hyun administration, as well as Rep. Cho Jeong-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea.

"The international community hopes that Korea, as a responsible member, will be more involved in and contribute further to resolving global issues," Kim said in her inauguration speech Wednesday.

"The reason the new administration set forth pragmatic diplomacy with the aim of becoming a globally responsible power is precisely to meet these demands of the times."

Cho Hyun, a career diplomat with extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy and trade, has been tipped as the Lee administration’s first foreign minister, according to multiple sources.

Cho was active in the Responsible Global Power Committee as well as the Special Committee on Northeast Asian Peace and Cooperation, chaired by Wi, which serves as the Democratic Party’s main body overseeing security affairs and North Korea issues.

Cho's diplomatic career includes ambassador to India in 2015, as well as ambassador to Austria and permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna in 2011. Cho also held the post of deputy permanent representative to the UN in New York in 2006.

Within the Foreign Ministry, Cho has held numerous high-level positions, including deputy minister for multilateral and global affairs, ambassador for energy and resources, and director-general of the Ministry’s International Economic Affairs Bureau.

Cho was involved in negotiations for a Korea-Japan free trade agreement and served as chief negotiator for the Korea-Mexico FTA. As ambassador to India — a major emerging market — in 2015, he worked to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.