New Korean Ambassador to India Chang Jae-bok takes charge on July 21
Armed with 32 years of experience as a seasoned diplomat, Chang Jae-bok was previously the ambassador for public diplomacy, and deputy minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Republic of Korea since 2019.
New Delhi: In a clear indication that India is an important ally of South Korea in the 21st century, the latter has decided to dispatch its senior foreign ministry diplomat and public diplomacy expert Chang Jae-bok as ambassador to India.
Chang Jae-bok succeeds Shin Bong-kil, the ambassador to India who completed three-and-a-half year-term on June 28.
Armed with 32 years of experience as a seasoned diplomat, Chang Jae-bok was previously the Ambassador and Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), the Republic of Korea since 2019.
He is all set to assume his post of Ambassador to India on July 21.
Apart from various crucial positions he held during his long career as a diplomat, Chang Jae-bok was posted at the Korean Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) in New York.
He also worked in various locations such as Ghana, Switzerland, and France.
Based on such a broad range of experiences, he played an active role as an ambassador of public diplomacy for his country.
Chang Jae-bok who joined the ministry of foreign affairs in 1988, was deputed as director of the Human Rights and Social Affairs Division of MOFAT in 2007.
In 2014, he was appointed as Consul-General, Korea Consulate General in Milan, Italy, and in 2018 as Ambassador, Organization Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).
The same year in 2018, Chang Jae-bok took over as the deputy minister for protocol affairs, MOFA.
Chang Jae-bok as a person:
Chang Jae-bok is known as a socially active diplomat with lot many Indian friends in his circle.
Before assuming his charge as Ambassador to India, Chang Jae-bok has laid his hands on the Hindi language, Indian culture, and Indian business and economy.
He has learned elementary Hindi language including alphabets, sentence formation, and some commonly used phrases besides other aspects about India for one and a half months at the Korean National Diplomacy Academy in Seoul.
It is mandatory for all diplomats to gain basics knowledge of the language, culture and other elements of the country where they are assuming charge as Ambassadors. A total of 12 sessions of one-and-a-half-hour each are mandatory to attend for them.
According to the people known to Chang Jae-bok, he is also very active on social media platforms as well.
Related article: India to have new Korean envoy as SHIN Bongkil completes 3-year term in India; Korean Community bids farewell
As Prof. Bhushan Kumar from Kookmin University who lives in Korea, puts it, “Chang Jae-bok is a very social and active diplomat as well as a ground-to-earth individual. He is very accessible, and already has many Indian friends in Seoul.”
Prof. Kumar is also a Hindi and Indian cultural instructor at Korean national public diplomacy and Indian Business at LG Chem in Korea.
