Mr Choi Young-jin

United Nations Special Representative for Côte d'Ivoire

Date of Birth: 29/03/1948
Place of Birth: Seoul

Alongside the United Nations Operations in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), South Korea's Choi Young-jin is working to implement the peace process outlined in the Ouagadougou accord of March 2007, signed by President Laurent Gbagbo and the Forces Nouvelles rebel leader, Guillaume Soro.

Choi studied international relations at Yonsei University in Seoul, then earned both his Master's and doctorate from the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. Fluent in French and English, he has served in the diplomatic corps in Senegal, France, Tunisia and the United States. On home assignments, he worked in international economic affairs and policy planning.

As Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations at the UN from 1998 to 1999, Choi directed, among others, the Sierra Leone and Congo-Kinshasa missions. He became Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2004 under South Korea's then-Foreign Minister (and future UN boss), Ban Ki-moon.

Choi was South Korea's representative to the UN from 2005 to 2007 and succeeded Sweden's Pierre Schori as UN envoy to Cote d'Ivoire in November 2007. His appointment was met with grumbling about nepotism. (At around the same time, India's Siddharth Chatterjee, a UNICEF program officer and Ban's son-in-law, was made Chief of Staff to the UN's Iraq mission.)

In Côte d'Ivoire, Choi seems near to delivering what two previous UN envoys have not. In August, he launched a '1000 microprojects' initiative to rehabilitate the 26,000 former Forces nouvelles rebels who will not be integrated into the national army. On 15 September, registration began for the nine million voters across the country. The drive, though behind schedule, cash-strapped and understaffed, is undeniably under way. Elections are set for 30 November.