Won Soo Kim

Won-soo Kim graduated from the College of Law of the Seoul National University (bachelor of law) in Korea, and received his M.A. from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University. He pursued graduate legal study as a doctoral (JSD) candidate at Stanford Law School. At Stanford, he also worked as a visiting fellow at CISAC between 1994 and 1995, and at APARC between 1995 and 1996.

Kim has pursued a foreign service career since joining the Korean Foreign Ministry in 1978. He has worked as the second secretary in the Korean Embassy in Washington, DC, and as the deputy director of the North America Division in the Foreign Ministry. He subsequently served as the political counselor in the Korean Embassy in New Delhi, and as the director of the Treaties Division in the Foreign Ministry.

In 1996-97, Kim served as the alternate representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations Security Council. During that period, Korea was a nonpermanent member of the Security Council for the first time, and sought to contribute substantively to international peace and security. Kim also worked as the political counselor of the Korean Mission to the UN until 1999.

Most recently, Kim worked at the Office of the President of the Republic of Korea as the secretary to the president for foreign affairs and trade (2002-03), as well as international security affairs (2000-02). During that period, he was in charge of overall coordination of Korea-s foreign policy on major issues, including the North Korean nuclear problem and management of the Korea-US alliance. Since September 2003, he has been in residence as a visiting scholar at APARC.