The Council has three Patrons
Korea’s Ambassador to New Zealand, His Excellency Mr Kim Hae-yong
Introduction
HE Mr Hae-yong Kim, a career diplomat, presented his credentials as Ambassador to New Zealand in December 2014 and is also accredited as Ambassador to Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Isl
ands. Ambassador Kim has a B.A. in Linguistics and M.A. in Public Administration from Seoul National University as well as an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Indiana University. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 1983 and his first posting was as Consul at the Korean Consulate in Seattle, USA. He then served as First Secretary in Trinidad and Tobago, the European Union and Belgium. He was Director in Trade Policy Planning Division and Multilateral Trade Cooperation Division in Seoul before being posted as First Secretary at the Korean Embassy in the USA. More recent positions include Senior Assistant Secretary (Office of the President) and Minister-Counsellor (Korean Permanent Mission to the UN Office, Geneva) Director-General for FTA Negotiations (MOFA, Seoul). From 2011 to 2013 he was Ambassador to Myanmar and prior to being posted to New Zealand he was Ambassador for International Relations to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province in Korea.
Date of Birth:
February 11, 1957
Education:
Aug. 1980 – B.A. in Linguistics, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
Aug. 1985 – M.A. in Public Administration, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
May. 1988 – M.A. in East Asian Studies, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.
Career:
Apr. 1983 – Passed High Diplomatic Service Examination
Jun. 1983 – Joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)
Jun. 1989 – Consul, Korean Consulate General in Seattle, U.S.A.
Jun. 1992 – First Secretary, Korean Embassy in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Dec. 1996 – First Secretary, Korean Mission to the European Union
Sep. 1998 – First Secretary, Korean Embassy in the Kingdom of Belgium and Korean Mission to the European Union
Feb. 2000 – Director, Trade Policy Planning Division, Multilateral Trade Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT)
Jan. 2001 – Director, Multilateral Trade Cooperation Division, Multilateral Trade Bureau, MOFAT
Jan. 2002 – First Secretary, Korean Embassy in the United States of America
Jul. 2004 – Senior Assistant Secretary, Office of the President
Apr. 2006 – Senior Coordinator for Bilateral Trade, MOFAT
Jan. 2007 – Minister-Counsellor, Korean Permanent Mission to the UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva, Switzerland
Feb. 2009 – Director-General for FTA Negotiations, MOFAT
Mar. 2011 – Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
Nov. 2013 – Ambassador for International Relations to Jeju Special Self-Governing Province
Awards:
Dec. 2010 – Order of Service Merit (Red Stripes)
Family:
Married with one son
New Zealand’s Ambassador to Korea, Her Excellency Ms Clare Fearnley
Clare Fearnley has served as New Zealand Ambassador in Seoul since February 2015. Her background is in trade policy, law and Asia-Pacific matters. Off-shore, Clare has headed the New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei and was Consul General in Shanghai, as well as having served in Geneva and Ottawa. Immediately prior to taking up her current role she was Director-General for North Asia, in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2014), Director General for Asia-Pacific Regional (2011-2014), Acting Director-General for Legal Affairs (2010) and head of Trade Law (2007-2010). Prior to joining MFAT Clare lived and worked in North Asia for almost five years. She is a fluent Mandarin speaker and is enjoying becoming acquainted with the Korean language!
Consul General in Auckland of the Republic of Korea, Ms Chang soon Cha
Ms Chang soon Cha took up her appointment as the Consul General to Auckland in August 2015. Prior to her current appointment, she served as the Minister Counsellor at the Korean Embassy to Azerbaijan from 2013 to 2015.
As a career diplomat, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 1980. Her first foreign assignment was to Anchorage, USA in 1987. Between 1995 and 2007, she was posted to Singapore, Korean Mission to the UN, and Delhi in India respectively. In 2008, she served as the Director of the Education and Training Division at the Ministry for one year. In 2009, she worked at Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and was subsequently seconded to the Sejong Institute. In these roles, she focused on spreading Korean culture and language abroad.
She graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul with a degree in History. She is married to Mr. Chul S. Cho and together they have two adult children. In her spare time, she enjoys tramping and tasting new foods around the world.
