Shim Seung-seop appointed as ambassador to Australia

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday appointed Park Cheol-hee, head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, as ambassador to Australia, Shim Seung-seob, former chief of naval operations, and Choi Hyung-chan, ambassador to the Netherlands, as head of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy. Kim Tae-kyu, vice chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, has been appointed to replace Lee Sang-soo, former vice chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, who resigned shortly after the impeachment bill was introduced at the National Assembly.

Park is an expert on Japanese politics who graduated from Seoul National University's political science department and earned a doctorate in political science from Columbia University in the U.S. He served as a professor at the Korea Institute for Foreign Affairs and Security Studies, dean of the Graduate School of International Studies and director of the Institute of International Studies at Seoul National University before being named as chief of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy in March 2023. During the last presidential election, Park participated in the campaign of then-candidate Yoon Suk Yeol and served as an expert member of the presidential transition committee's foreign affairs and national security division.

Shim Seung-seob, the new ambassador to Australia, is a naval veteran who was commissioned as a member of Class 39 of the Naval Academy. He served as commander of the First Fleet, chief of personnel affairs at the Navy Headquarters, and chief of strategic planning at the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After retiring as a full general in April 2020, he served as a professor of defense systems engineering at Sejong University before joining the Yoon Suk Yeol campaign during the last presidential election. His appointment comes more than three months after the resignation of former ambassador Lee Jong-seop, who was implicated in the investigation into the death of Marine L. Cpl. Chae Su-geun, who died in an accident in the line of duty.


Hyung-Jun Hwang constant25@donga.com