Category: Invited guests

Former Mexican Ambassador in Korea. H.E. Mr. José Luis Bernal served with the rank of Ambassador in the Czech Republic, in Switzerland and in the Principality of Liechtenstein. He was Mexico’s Senior Official to the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) in 2001, Chief Economic Advisor at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2001. In 1999, he was elected for a two-year term as Vice Chair of the OECD’s Committee on Territorial Development Policies. José Luis Bernal holds a Master’s Degree on Economics from CIDE, the Center for Teaching and Research on Economics in Mexico.

Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Korea since September 2011. H.E. Mrs. Zhylevich is a carrier diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs starting from 1992. She served as Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Belarus to UNESCO (Paris, France), Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of Turkey, and Ambassador at Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus. She graduated from the Minsk State Linguistic University and speaks English, French, Turkish.

Country Head for India at BNP Paribas SA since June 2015. Prior to taking up his current position, he served as Country Head of South Korea for BNP Paribas (2012-2015). In 2010, he had been appointed country head of Greece for BNP Paribas. From 2008 to 2010, he served as country head for Japan at Fortis and as interim Head of Merchant Banking Asia. He started his career in 1995 as Graduate Trainee at Generale Bank, in Belgium, before moving to Ireland to work at KBC Finance as Vice President in Project Finance in 1999. He holds a post-graduate degree in Finance from the University of Leuven, a master of law degree from the University of London and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Antwerp.

Former Ambassador of Belgium to the Republic of Korea. He previously held various positions such as Deputy General Director for Development Cooperation (2008-2012) and Deputy Representative to the Council of Europe (2004-2008). He graduated from the Catholic University of Louvain.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation since 2011, in charge of the relations with Asian countries. Between 2009 and 2011, he was Head of the First Asia Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, from 2006 to 2009, counselor at the embassy of the Russian Federation in Beijing. He has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1991. In 1983, he graduated from the Institute of Asian and African Studies of the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Président et directeur des opérations de Korean Air, compagnie qu’il a rejointe en 1977. Auparavant, il a occupé les postes de vice-président exécutif et de vice-président au sein de la division Korean Air Cargo et du projet Navoï, de vice-président au siège régional en Chine, vice-président de la gestion et directeur général du bureau régional de San Francisco, et directeur général du bureau régional de Sydney. Il a reçu plusieurs récompenses, dont celles de l’Ordre du Mérite sportif (médaille Geosang). Il est titulaire d’une licence en théorie de l’éducation de l’université nationale de Séoul et d’un MBA de l’université d’Inha.

PDG de BNP Paribas Securities Korea depuis 2009. Il a commencé sa carrière à la Banque de Corée en 1979. En 1990, il intègre Merrill Lynch Securities Singapore où il travaille deux ans avant d’être promu responsable Fixed Income et responsable Equity chez Merrill Lynch Securities Korea. Il est ensuite affecté en 1998 à Merrill Lynch Securities Hong Kong où il exerce la fonction de responsable Fixed Income pour l’Asie et le Pacifique. Il retourne en Corée après deux ans passés à Hong Kong. En 2003, il est nommé responsable pays de Merrill Lynch Securities Korea. Il est diplômé en économie de l’Université Yonsei.

Member of the Advisory Board of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. He is also a Professor and Head of the department of diplomacy of MGIMO since 2014 and Chief Editor of the magazine “The USA and Canada – economy, policy, culture”, published by the Institute for the US and Canadian Studies, in Moscow. He served as Rector of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006-2010). He was also Ambassador of Russia to Norway (2004-2006), Japan (1996-2003) and the Republic of Korea (1992-1993). From 1994 to 1996, he served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia. He was a Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) (1971-1977). He holds a PhD in Political Sciences.

Ambassador of Spain to the Republic of Korea. Previously, he had been Consul General of Spain in Shanghai (2011-2014), Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Spain in India (2006-2009), Ambassador of Spain in Vietnam (2003-2006), Consul General of Spain in Sydney and Auckland (1996-1999), and Consul General of Spain in Rio de Janeiro (1990-1993). He holds a bachelor in law and economics.

Secretary General of the Korean–American Association since July 2013. H.E. Mr. Jaebum Kim also serves as Senior Research Fellow at the Korea Global Development Consulting Center. He has been a policy commissioner of the Korean Council on Foreign Relations since March 2007. Since March 2011, he has also been a board member and associate director of the International Policy Studies Institute (IPSI) in Seoul and the editor of its English-language journal Korea Review. He served as Korea’s Ambassador to the Oriental Republic of Uruguay between 2002 and 2005.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Turkey to the Republic of Korea. He has also been Ambassador to the Republic of Macedonia (2008-2010) and to the Republic of Nigeria. He has held several positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he joined in 1978, including Director General for the Balkans and Central Europe (2010-2013), Deputy Director General for Research (2001-2004), and Head of North America Department (1995-1997). He holds a BA in International Relations from the Faculty of Political Sciences of Ankara University and has studied at NATO Defence College in Rome, Italy.

Vice Chairman & CEO, Federation of Korean Industries (FKI). He also serves as President of the FKI International Management Institute (IMI) and the FKI Center for Large and Small Business Cooperation (FKI LSC). He is the Chairman of the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI). He is also a Board Member of several associations, like the Korea Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, the Korea Medical Assistance Foundation and the Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency. He holds an MA in Economics, Ohio State University, U.S.A., and a PhD in Economics, Ohio State University, U.S.A.

Ambassador of the Republic of Tunisia in Seoul. He has held several functions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tunisia, including Secretary of Foreign Affairs for Arab and Asian countries, Counselor of Foreign Affairs and Assistant Director. He has also worked at the Tunisian Embassy of Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, of Athens, in Greece, and of Madrid, in Spain, respectively as First Secretary, as Minister-Counselor and as Chargé d’affaires. He holds a master of combined languages (Arabic, French, English, Spanish).

Deputy Minister of Development of Turkey. He also served as AKP deputy in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 2002 and 2007 and as mayor of Safranbolu from 1999 to 2002. Prior to that, he had been appointed  deputy specialist to the State Planning Organization (DPT). Between 1981 and 1985, he was lecturer at Zonguldak Karaelmas University and at Middle East Technical University (METU). He holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Yıldız Teknik University, Istanbul, and an MA degree in economics from Western Illinois University, USA.

Senior fellow for Korea studies and director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he had also served as an adjunct fellow (2008-2011). Prior to joining CFR, he founded and directed the Center for U.S.-Korea Policy and served as the Asia Foundation’s representative in Korea (2000-2004). He has authored numerous books on Korean politics and Asian regionalism and writes for the blog Asia Unbound. He holds a BA from Rice University and an MA from the regional studies East Asia program, Harvard University.

President of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul, Korea. Previously, he was a Senior Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, California (2007-2010), Professor in the School of International Relations and the Department of Political Science as well as the Director of the Korean Studies Institute at the University of Southern California (2005-2007), Director (D-1) of the Division of Social Sciences Research & Policy at UNESCO (2003-2005), and Professor in the Department of Political Science at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea (1992-2005). He received a BA in economics from Carleton College, a MA and a PhD in political science from the Johns Hopkins University.

Director and founder of GlobalFocus, a strategic analysis and foreign policy think-tank. She is also Senior Editor of Foreign Policy (Romanian edition of the international magazine), a frequent TV commentator on global affairs and guest lecturer with the Romanian National Defence Academy. She served as Foreign Affairs Adviser to the President of the Romanian Senate, Programmes Director with the Aspen Institute Romania and before that as a journalist. She specialised in emerging threats, democratisation, political transitions and post-conflict reconstruction at Yale University as a Fulbright Scholar, Harvard Kennedy School (USA) and St Andrew’s University (UK).

18th president of Sookmyung Women’s University. She is also President of the Korean National Ballet and Vice President of Korean Association of Private University and Senior Researcher of Consortium for National English Ability Test. Since 1991, she has been a Professor of Department of English Language and Literature at Sookmyung. She was the founding Dean of the school of TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Language) at Sookmyung. She was President of the Sociolinguistic Society of Korea (2002-2003) and the Applied Linguistic Association of Korea (2007-2008).

General Representative of Total in China and Chairman of Total (China) Investment since 2011. He started his career in Africa before joining Total’s Downstream sector in 1985 in the United Kingdom. In 1990, he was appointed Crude Oil Manager in Tokyo. He joined the Total’s Investor Relations team in 1993. He became Chief Financial Officer of Total France in 1999. In 2004, he was appointed President and CEO of Total Holdings USA, based in Houston, and, in 2009, Vice-President Investor Relations of Total. He graduated from the French Business School HEC Paris and the Executive Training Program (ETP) of the European Union in Japan.

Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. He is also the Chairman of the Board of trustees of the Asan Foundation and the Honorary Chairman of Ulsan University. He served seven terms in the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea. He is a former Chairman of the Grand National Party, and was a presidential candidate in 2002. He graduated from Seoul National University and the Sloan School of Management at MIT and he holds a PhD in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at the Johns Hopkins University.

Vice President, China Institute of International Studies (CIIS). He is a senior research fellow specialized in Middle East studies and ethnic issues. He was First Secretary and Director of the Political Affairs Office of the Chinese Embassy in Turkey (1999-2002). He has been Director for Developing Countries Studies, Director for EU Studies, Director for International Strategic Studies at CIIS and Editor-in-chief of the CIIS Journal, International Studies. He graduated from the Inner Mongolia Normal University, Huanghe University and Peking University.

Professor of Genomics, Genetics and Plant biotechnology, Southern Illinois University. Former Managing Director, University Polytechnique Mohammed VI. He serves as an editor and ad hoc reviewer for a number of international scientific journals as well as for national, federal and international granting agencies. In 2000, he joined the Department of Plant, Soil, and Agricultural Systems at SIU as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to full Professor in 2009. Genetic diversity and crops improvement via mutation breeding and generation of alternative alleles is a major area of his research. He graduated from the University of Casablanca, the University of Fes, the University of Paris XI and he holds a PhD from the University of Cologne and the Max-Planck-Institute in Germany.

Chargé de mission, Royal Cabinet, Morocco. He was appointed as Minister Delegate for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation by His Majesty King Mohammed VI in 2013. He served as Ambassador to Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Belize. In 2008, he was appointed Secretary General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, a position he held until his election as Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean, in July 2011. He holds a degree in economics from the University Mohammed V, Rabat and graduated from the Institute of Management, Boston.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (2013-2017). Previously, he was a Member of the Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, National Defense and Unification, the 18th Presidential Transition Committee. He was also a Visiting Professor, Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), Sogang University. In 2006, he served as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, MOFAT. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 1977. He graduated from the Graduate School of Law, Seoul National University and holds a MA from The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), The Johns Hopkins University.

Research Director, The Canon Institute for Global Studies, since 2009. He is also a Visiting Professor at Ritsumeikan University since 2006 and President of the AOI Foreign Policy Institute since 2005. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan in 1978. In 2004, he served as Deputy Director-General of Middle East Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs after having served as Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Iraq and Japan’s Representative to the CPA. In 2000 he was Minister at the Embassy of Japan in China. He graduated from the Law Faculty of the University of Tokyo.

President of the Republic of Korea (2013-2017). She was sworn in as South Korea’s first female president in 2013. Previously, she was a Lawmaker in the 18th National Assembly and Member of the Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Committee (2008-2012). She served among others as Chairperson of the Grand National Party (GNP) (2004-2006). In 1998, she began serving as a member of the National Assembly. She would be re-elected four times thereafter, serving in five consecutive national assemblies. She holds a BS in Electronic Engineering from Sogang University, Seoul, as well as several Honorary Doctorates in Literature, Science, and Politics.