Profile
Jong Kun Choi is Professor at the Department of Political Science and International Studies, College of Social Sciences, Yonsei University.
Dr. Choi received his Ph.D from the Department of Political Science, the Ohio State University, in 2006 and his MA in Political Science from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, in 2000, and his BA in Political Science from the University of Rochester, NY in 1998. He went to All Saints’ College for his high school education in Bathurst, NSW, Australia.
He was Korea’s first Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs from August 2020 to May 2022. He played a key role in reinitiating the trilateral vice minister meetings with the US and Japan. He also actively engaged with Iran, EU, US and European partners and provided diplomatic assistance to revive the JCPOA.
His active approach resulted in strengthening Korea’s relationship with the Central American States as well as ASEAN nations. During the Covid-19 Pandemic years, he extensively traveled to Africa, South and Central America, the Middle East and Europe.
His working relationship with his American counterparts Deputy Secretary Steve Biegun during the Trump Administration and Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman during the Biden Administration was known to be very close and strong.
Before his vice-ministerial appointment, he served as President Moon’s Secretary for Peace and Arms Control from July 2017 to February 2019 at the office of National Security, the Blue House. In March 2019, he was appointed as President Moon’s Secretary for Peace Planning at the office of National Security, the Blue House. For 37 months at the Blue House, he was in charge of crafting and coordinating Inter-Korean arms control policies and the Korean Peace Process policies. He participated in the inter-Korean summits both in Panmunjom, April 27 and in Pyongyang, September 19 2018. He coordinated South Korea’s negotiating strategies for Inter-Korean military talks, which produced the Comprehensive Military Agreement providing operational arms control platforms in the DMZ on the Korean Peninsula. He coordinated a joint ROK-US policies towards North Korea.
Education
Ph.D : the Department of Political Science, the Ohio State University
MA : Political Science , Yonsei University
BA : Political Science , the University of Rochester
Career
[ Present ]
Professor, Department of Political Science & International Studies, Yonsei University
[ Former ]
1st Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea
Presidential Secretary for Peace and Arms Control, Blue House’s National Security Office, Republic of Korea
Presidential Secretary for Peace Planning, Blue House’s National Security Office , Republic of Korea
Program Chair, Political Science & International Relations, Underwood International College, Yonsei University
Major Chair, International Relations & Security, Graduate School of Public Administration, Yonsei University
Program Chair, Yonsei Air and Space Power Program, Yonsei University
Program Chair, Nordic Research Program, Institute of East and West Studies, Yonsei University
Fellow, Salzburg Global Seminar.
Member of Editorial Board of Asian Perspective from the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Kyungnam University
Member of Advisory Board at the Office of Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
member of the Executive committee, Center for Military Human Right Korea
Faculty Editor, Yonsei Annals Monthly Campus Magazine, Yonsei University
Associate Dean, Graduate School of Public Administration, Yonsei University
Coordinator and Member of Advisory Board, Campus Globalization Council, Yonsei University
Member of Advisory Board at Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee, National Assembly, Republic of Korea
Member of Advisory Board, ROK Air Force
Member of Advisory Board , Task Force Team For Air-Power Acquisition, ROKAF
Member of Advisory Board , Task Force Team For KF-X Project, ROKAF
Standing Member of Inter-Korean Cooperation Committee for Incheon Metropolitan City
Research Associate, East Asia Peace Program, Uppsala University.
Research Associate, Economics-Security Nexus, McArthur Foundation
Assistant Professor, University of North Korean Studies
BK-21 Post Doctoral Fellow
Deputy Executive Director, The World Congress for Korean Politics and Society
Lecturer, Department of Political Science, the Ohio State Univ.
Research Associate, Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Contact
Phone: +82-2-2123-5946
Email: jongchoi@yonsei.ac.kr
Address: 113-1 Yeonhui Hall, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemoon-gu, Seoul, 120-749, Republic of Korea
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