Ex-ambassador to lead Korea Foundation

Kim Woo-sang, former ambassador to Australia and respected foreign affairs scholar, has been named the 10th president of the Korea Foundation (KF), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced recently.



He replaces Kim Byung-kook, who will be at the helm of a diplomatic academy, effective immediately.

The KF spokesman said Friday that the date has not yet been fixed for the beginning of Kim’s term, but he is expected to take office in the next week.

Founded in 1991 under the ministry to foster a better and wider understanding of Korean language and culture overseas, the agency had 179 billion won under management at the end of last year.

Previously Kim served in a diplomatic post in Canberra from April 2008 to August 2011. He was also included in the special delegation to the United States when President Lee Myung-bak was president-elect. The academic diplomat has more than two decades of research and teaching in international relations under his belt, starting from the Hoover Institute at Stanford in 1987 and most recently at the Yonsei University’s Institute of East-West Studies before his ambassadorship.