Song Min-soon
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| Song Min-soon | ||||||||
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Song Min-soon (born July 28, 1948 in Jinyang, present-day Jinju, Gyeongsangnam-do) was the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade for South Korea. Before that, he was head of the South Korean delegation to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear program.
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[edit] Life
[edit] National Assembly Member, Democratic Party
Before joining the 18th National Assembly in June 2008, Song Min-soon was a career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) where he served for more than thirty years. Currently a member of the opposition Democratic Party, he brings immense knowledge and hands-on expertise in Korea’s foreign relations and inter-Korean affairs to the National Assembly.
[edit] Work in Government (September 1975–February 2008)
As a diplomat, Song had his first foreign posting in Germany, which was subsequently followed by assignments in India, the US, and Singapore. In March 2001, Song was appointed as ROK's Ambassador to the Republic of Poland. Throughout his service, he was a key figure in many diplomatic negotiations and inter-Korean talks that strengthened the country's relations with its allies and North Korea.
As Deputy Minister for Political Affairs, he led the six-party talks to produce what has now become a quintessential blueprint for achieving a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, the Joint Communiqué of September 19, 2005. Prior to that, as Director-General of the North American Affairs Bureau, he negotiated the revision of the ROK-US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) and the bilateral missile talks. Song was also a representative in the 1st inter-Korean Defense Ministerial Talks. President Roh Moo Hyun appointed Song as his National Security Advisor in January 2006 and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade later that year. In these top foreign policy posts, he continued to champion the international effort to denuclearize North Korea and stabilize the regional security environment.
[edit] National Assembly Member (June 2008-Present)
Elected to the 18th National Assembly in June 2008, Song serves on the Foreign Affairs, Trade & Unification Committee. As a National Assembly Member, he has been promoting legal reforms that address important foreign policy challenges, such as streamlining the country's Official Development Assistance (ODA) policies or creating a standing PKO force. Another major concern has been the settlement of North Korean defectors who are currently not receiving adequate vocational training. As a corrective, Song has proposed that current laws mandating an eight-week training period be revised to provide for at least one year of diversified and specialized training programs.
In seeking to enhance Korea's global standing and accelerate inter-Korean reconciliation, Song continues to collaborate with colleagues within and outside the National Assembly based on principle and bipartisanship. He hopes that these efforts will ultimately pave the way for creating a reunified nation that is democratic, market-oriented, denuclearized and friendly to all neighbors.
Official website: www.mssong.or.kr [1]
[edit] See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- List of Koreans
- Politics of South Korea
- Foreign relations of South Korea
- Military history of the United States
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by Ban Ki-moon |
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of South Korea 2006–2008 |
Succeeded by Yu Myung-hwan |
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