KEI Contributor

Ambassador Lee Soo Hyuck is an experienced diplomat and former legislator. He has been serving as the Korean Ambassador to the United States since October 2019.

Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Lee served as a Member of the 20th Korean National Assembly, where he was a member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. He also served as the First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service and the Endowed Chair Professor at Dankook University in Seoul.

Ambassador Lee joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in 1975 and served in numerous senior positions. He was the Deputy Minister for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ROK Ambassador to Germany, Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and Minister Counselor at the Korean Embassy in the United States.

Ambassador Lee also served as South Korea's first chief delegate to six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia when the forum was launched in 2003 with the goal of resolving the North Korean nuclear issue. Prior to that, he took part as one of the representatives for the four-party dialogue on North Korea issues in 1997 and worked as a foreign affairs secretary in 1999.

Ambassador Lee has published multiple works, including Conversations with Unified Germany (2006), Transforming Events – Analysis of North Korea’s Nuclear Issues (2008) and North Korea is a Reality (2011). He has twice been awarded the Order of Service Merit. He received his BA in International Relations from Seoul National University and MA in Political Science from Yonsei University. He is married with two sons.