Korea has appointed Lee Eun-ho, the most recent president of the Korean Security Agency of Trade and Industry (KOSTI), as the country’s new top representative to Taiwan, a source told CNA Monday.
Lee will assume office in Taipei on Feb. 20, the source said.
Lee will replace Chung Byung-won, who has been South Korea’s representative as head of the Korean Mission in Taipei since December 2021 and has just been named Korea’s next ambassador to Sweden, according to the unnamed source.
It is the first time South Korea has appointed an envoy to Taiwan from its Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) instead of from its foreign ministry, as had been the convention since 1992 after the two sides cut official diplomatic ties, the source said.
Lee is also the first top Korean envoy to Taiwan named by President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May 2022.
Born in 1961, Lee received master’s and bachelor degrees in mechanical engineering at Seoul Nation University before receiving a Ph.D. in the same field at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States.
He started his public service as the director of MOCIE’s International Standard Division and then of the MOCIE’s E-Business Policy Division, before being posted overseas at the Korean embassy in Vietnam and then in the United Arab Emirates.
He had headed the KOSTI, a government-funded institution established in June 2007 to help Korean corporations comply with export controls and international trade standards, since May 2021.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel