Yu Myung-hwan

Yu Myung-hwan joined Kim & Chang in 2011 after 37 years of distinguished service with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, including Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2008 to 2010.

He started his foreign service in Japan in 1976 as a young diplomat and returned as Ambassador to Japan in March 2007. He advised on various political and economic issues concerning both the private and public sector with a view to revamp bilateral relation until his departure from Japan to join President Lee Myung Bak’s administration as a cabinet minister in February of 2008.

Mr. Yu’s experience extends across a broad range of issues in the field of international relations including traded and security issues and negotiations with North Korea in particular. He has served as Political Counselor and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Korean Embassy in the United States, respectively in the 1980s and 1990s, and also served as Minister of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Mr. Yu was appointed the Ambassador for Anti-Terrorism and Afghanistan Issues in 2001. He also served as the Ambassador to the State of Israel from 2002 to 2004, when he was transferred to the Philippines. He was appointed to 2nd Vice Minister in July 2005 and later, he served as 1st Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade until December 2006.

Mr. Yu graduated from Seoul National University (B.A 1970) and also studied at the Institute for Social Studies at The Hague, Netherlands (Diploma 1974). He was awarded the Order of Service Merit, Red Stripes in 1996 and the Grand Cross of the Order of Sikatuna in 2005 from the Government of the Philippines. From the Japanese Government, he was also awarded Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun in 2015.