South Korea’s U.N. ambassador to speak at Rice’s Baker Institute

CONTACT: Franz Brotzen
PHONE: 713-348-6775
E-MAIL: franz.brotzen@rice.edu

Hyun Chong Kim, South Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, will speak at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy Jan. 31. The lecture begins at 5:30 p.m.

Prior to his U.N. appointment, Kim served as minister for trade in the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2004 to 2007. In 2003, he was appointed deputy minister of trade. From 1999 to 2003, he served as a lawyer in the World Trade Organization’s legal division in Geneva, Switzerland. From 1995 to 1999, he held the post of general counsel at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul.

Kim also taught for several years at Hongik University in Seoul, holding the position of assistant professor in the department of international trade from 1993 to 1998. From 1985 to 1989, Kim practiced at a number of law firms, including Shin and Yu, International Law Office in Seoul; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP; and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy LLP in New York.

Kim earned both a juris doctor degree and his master’s degree in political science from Columbia University in New York.

The lecture is co-sponsored by Rice President David Leebron and the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for Asian Studies.

The event will be held in James A. Baker III Hall’s Doré Commons. For directions, go to http://www.rice.edu/maps/maps.html.