Retired Army lieutenant general Lee Seok-gu appointed as ambassador to UAE

Lee Seok-gu, retired lieutenant general officer of the South Korean Army, was named Korea's ambassador to the UAE on Friday. (Yonhap)

Lee Seok-gu, retired lieutenant general officer of the South Korean Army, has been appointed the country‘s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday.

The Foreign Ministry said Lee will be well suited for the position, given his decadeslong experience in the defense industry and military.

After graduating from the Korea Military Academy in 1980s, Lee served as the director operations at the Army Headquarters, the commander of Capital Mechanized Infantry Division and the commander of Defense Security Command -- now the Defense Security Support Command.

Later, he served as a deputy commander of the Second Operations Command of the South Korean Army and the president of Korea National Defense University.

Besides Lee, the Foreign Ministry also appointed Jang Ha-yeon, a former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, as the ambassador to Guatemala.

Also, Sungkonghoe University professor Yang Ki-ho, an expert in Japanese studies, was named the consul-general of South Korea in Kobe, Japan, and Moon Seung-hyun, a former political minister at the South Korean embassy in Washington, has been appointed the ambassador to Thailand.

Diplomat Kim Hyung-gil has also been selected as the ambassador to Denmark.

By Shim Woo-hyun(ws@heraldcorp.com)