July 13,
2006
Dr. Sung Lac Wi
Minister for Political Affairs at the Embassy of the
Republic of Korea
Topic:
North Korean Nuclear Issues.
Mr. Wi, Sung Lac is currently the Minister for Political
Affairs and Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the
Republic of Korea. Mr. Wi most recently was Senior Policy
Coordinator at the National Security Council in Seoul, where
he served in coordinating policies between Korea and the
United States.
A career diplomat with over 26 years in the Foreign Service,
he has assumed many other important posts that directly
relate to North American Affairs. His assignments include
postings as Director-General for the North American Affairs
Bureau, Special Assistant to the Foreign Minister. In the
Six-Party Talks, he served as Deputy Head of Delegation of
the ROK. During these talks, he played a key role in
generating ROK proposals, including one made jointly with
the US at the Third Round of the Six-Party Talks. He also
served in Geneva and Moscow during the early years of his
career. Arms Control and Human Rights were the main
concentration of his assignments in Geneva. When in Moscow,
he worked on Russian domestic situation, ROK-Russian and
DPRK-Russian relations.
He completed undergraduate and graduate courses in
International Relations from Seoul National University. He
learned Russian Studies from the Defense Language Institute
(DLI, Pentagon-run school) in Monterey, California and got a
Ph.D. from the Institute of International Economics and
Political Sciences of Moscow.
He published a book titled “Russia Report” on Russian
Domestic and Foreign Policy and was twice awarded by the
President and by the Foreign Minister, for contributions to
ROK’s ‘ Nordpolitik’ and for ‘best report’ respectively.
Mr. Wi is married with two sons.
