Kim Jae-shin

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade

South Korea’s new Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Kim Sung-hwan took office in October, pledging closer engagement with Africa. His first emissary is Deputy Minister Kim Jae-shin, whose 28 November-5 December tour took in Tanzania, South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe. African affairs will be a new challenge for Kim Jae-shin, whose experience is principally in Asia.

Kim called on Tanzanian Foreign Minister Bernard Membe and Zimbabwean Foreign Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, and in Angola he met Agriculture Minister Afonso Pedro Canga. Seoul agreed to increase funding for Angolan cotton production via a Korea Export-Import Bank facility and promised additional funds for a cotton project in Kwanza-Sul and aviculture project in Kwanza-Norte and Malanje. Kim also conveyed Seoul’s interest in fisheries and telecommunications.

Born in 1957, Kim Jae-shin studied at Korea University’s Department of Political Science and International Relations. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1980 and his first overseas assignment was as Second Secretary to the Embassy in Japan (1984-1989). Kim then served as First Secretary at the Embassy in Burma (1989-1992). Returning to Seoul, he was Principal Secretary to Foreign Ministers Lee Sang-ock and Han Sung-joo. Kim has served in the offices of two presidents: Roh Moo-hyun (Assistant Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 2006) and President Lee Myung-bak (Secretary, 2008-10).

Kim has also headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Protocol Division (1998-2000), Northeast Asian Division I (2000-02) and Asian and Pacific Affairs Bureau (2007-08). Other overseas postings took him to the United States (First Secretary, 1995-1998) and China (Counsellor, 2002-03) and then back to Japan (Counsellor, 2003-05). He has held his current position since August 2010.