Veteran envoy named new head of Overseas Korean Agency

Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Sang-deok was appointed as the second commissioner of the Overseas Korean Agency on Thursday. A career diplomat, Lee previously served as ambassador to Singapore and counselor at the Korean embassy in Beijing.

Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Sang-deok, left, poses for a photo with President Yoon Suk Yeol during a ceremony to receive his consular credentials at the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Dec. 26, 2022. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Lee Sang-deok was appointed as the second commissioner of the Overseas Korean Agency (OKA) on Thursday.

A career diplomat, Lee previously served as ambassador to Singapore, the director of the Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asia Bureau and counselor at the Korean embassy in Beijing.

“Lee has worked mostly in areas with large Korean populations, including Southeast China, and has excellent negotiation and coordination skills acquired through his long career as a diplomat,” the presidential office said in a statement Thursday.

The OKA, a sub-ministry under the Foreign Ministry launched in June last year, took over and streamlined the work previously handled by the Foreign Ministry’s overseas Korean policy department and the Overseas Korean Foundation.

Ambassador Lee graduated from the Department of Portuguese Language at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and pursued graduate studies in political science at Georgia State University in the United States. He passed the foreign service examination in 1988.

While serving as the director of the Foreign Ministry's Northeast Asia Bureau, Lee was in charge of negotiations with Japan regarding the “comfort women” issue and participated as the chief representative in the Korea-Japan director-level consultations held 12 times from April 2014 to December the following year.

These talks produced an agreement on the comfort woman issue under the Park Geun-hye administration.

Ambassador Lee will succeed the current commissioner, Lee Key-cheol, who was named the first head of the OKA on June 2, 2023.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]