KEI Contributor

Ambassador Hyundong Cho, the 28th Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States of America, has had a distinguished career in the Korean Foreign Service. Most recently, he served as the First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) from May 2022 to April 2023. He passed the 19th foreign service exam in 1985 and held various positions, such as the Second Secretary at the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea in Geneva in 1991 and the First Secretary of the Korean Embassy in Mongolia in 1993. Ambassador Cho also served in the United States multiple times, as the First Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Washington DC in 1999, Director at the North American Division III of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2003, and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Korean Embassy in the United States in 2013.

In addition to his roles in the United States, Ambassador Cho has held various positions within the Korean Foreign Service. He served as the Chief Human Resource Officer at the General Affairs Division of MOFAT, Senior Administrator at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security under the Lee Myung-bak administration, Director of MOFAT's North Korea Nuclear Diplomacy Planning Division, Assistant Secretary, Director-General for the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Public Diplomacy Ambassador at the MOFA under the Park Geun-hye administration.

Ambassador Cho's expertise also extends beyond diplomacy. He served as the Head of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO). Ambassador Cho earned his B.A. in Spanish from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.