EVENT: The Republic of Korea and the UN Security Council

Events

Asia-Pacific Security Asia-Pacific Korean Peninsula 2024

The Republic of Korea and the UN Security Council with ROK Permanent Representative to the United Nations

With Joonkook Hwang
Moderated by Thomas A. Byrne
March 15, 2024
Co-hosted with The Korea Society

This timely discussion was about the Republic of Korea’s membership in the United Nations Security Council for the 2024-2025 term. It featured the ROK Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Joonkook Hwang, in conversation with Korea Society President and CEO Thomas A. Byrne.

The Republic of Korea, which has a special history and bond with the United Nations, aims to actively contribute to world peace and security and fulfill the expectations of the international community during its tenure as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. This event offered a valuable opportunity for the audience to gain insights into Ambassador Hwang’s perspective on the ROK’s vision for its Security Council activities, highlighting its interests and priorities among more than 60 regional and thematic agenda items on the Council. Moreover, Ambassador Hwang is anticipated to address the current status and future prospects of the Korean Peninsula, including recent changes and implications of North Korea’s nuclear and inter-Korean policies. This event served as a platform for shedding light on new Security Council dynamics in recent years amidst ongoing global geopolitical changes, in particular the enhanced roles of non-permanent Council members, referred to as the Elected 10.

This event is co-hosted by the The Korea Society and features introductory remarks by NCAFP Chairman of the Board of Trustees Jeffrey R. Shafer. The conversation was moderated by Thomas A. Byrne, President of The Korea Society.

The opening remarks from Ambassador Hwang were live-streamed, and the Q&A was off-the-record. In-person attendance at this program is by invitation only. Online registration for the livestream is open to all.

Ambassador Joonkook Hwang was born in Seoul in December 1960. He assumed his current position of Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in July 2022. Ambassador Hwang joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of Korea in 1982. Throughout the majority of his distinguished diplomatic career, he has assumed key responsibilities on political and security matters both at the bilateral and multilateral levels. He has held various senior positions in the Government of the Republic of Korea, including, among others, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (2016-18), Special Representative (Vice Foreign Minister) for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs and Head of Delegation to the Six-Party Talks (2014-16), Chief Negotiator for the ROK-US Defense Burden-sharing arrangement (2013), Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister for Political Affairs at the ROK Embassy in Washington DC (2010-13), and Ambassador and Director-General for North Korean Nuclear Issues (2008-10). Ambassador Hwang returns to New York after previously serving as Counsellor (2003- 06) and First Secretary (1995-97) at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations. He retired from the government in 2018, and taught courses on the North Korean nuclear crisis and Politics in Northeast Asia as a visiting professor at Yonsei University and Hallym University in Korea. Ambassador Hwang graduated from Seoul National University in 1982, majoring in Economics. He obtained his Master’s degree in Public Affairs at Princeton University in 1986. Ambassador Hwang is married to Shil Rhee and they have two daughters.