Shin Kak-Soo

Ambassador Shin Kak-Soo was born on January 16th, 1955 in Young-dong County, Choong-buk Province, Republic of Korea. He holds the citizenship of the Republic of Korea. He is married and has one son and one daughter.

Ambassador Shin received a bachelor's degree in law from Seoul National University(SNU) in 1977, and earned a master's degree in international law from the Graduate School of Law at SNU in February 1979.  In 1983 he studied Japanese at the International Center of Japan's Keio University, after which he moved to the Department of Law at Tokyo University in 1984, where he  majored in international law.  In August 1991, Ambassador Shin earned a J.S.D from Seoul National University.

Ambassador Shin passed Korea's High Diplomatic Service Examination in 1975, and joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977. His career in the Ministry has heretofore been focused on Asian affairs as well as global issues, international organizations and legal affairs.

Ambassador Shin started his career at the International Legal Affairs Division and Treaties Division in the Treaties Bureau as Assistant Director from 1977 to 1985.

His first overseas posting was to Tokyo, where he worked as First Secretary for three years. In March 1989 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Japan Division at the Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau.
After serving as Advisor to the Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1990,  he returned to the Japan Division in 1993, this time to serve as its Director.

He was appointed Advisor to the Foreign Minister in 1995, and in 1996 received his first posting to the Korean Mission to the United Nations as Counsellor, where he served for three years. Following this, he worked at the Embassy to Sri Lanka as Minister-Counsellor for two years.

After briefly serving as Deputy Director-General for the East Asia Study Group at the Asian Pacific Affairs Bureau, he was promoted to Director-General of the Treaties Bureau in 2002.  In March 2004, he was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative of Korea to the United Nations.

In February 2006, Ambassador Shin was appointed to the post of Ambassador to Israel. Ambassador Shin assumed office as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from July 2008.

In 1979-1982, during which Ambassador Shin served as Instructor in the Department of Law at the Korea Military Academy, he taught international law and military criminal law to cadets.  He was also Instructor in the Department of Diplomacy at Sogang University in Seoul in 1981-1982.  Applying for mid-term career program in 1991, Ambassador Shin was a visiting fellow at the Asia-Pacific Research Center of Stanford University, U.S., for two years.

Ambassador Shin is a member of the Korean Society of International Law, the Korean Society of International Humanitarian Law, and the American Society of International Law.

Ambassador Shin has written many articles on various issues in international law, international organizations, Asian Affairs, inter-Korean relations and North Korea in academic journals.  He has also contributed many articles to newspapers and periodicals.