Ambassador Cho Tae-yul Amb. Cho Tae-yul is the 25th Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations. He assumed his current position on December 5, 2016. During his over 36 years of diplomatic carrier, he has held various senior positions in the Korean government including, among others, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (2013-2016), Ambassador to the Kingdom of Spain (2008-2011), Deputy Minister for Trade (2007-2008), and Ambassador to UN Office and other International Organizations in Geneva (2005-2007). He was also appointed as member of the Advisory Group of the UN Development Cooperation Forum while he was serving as Ambassador for Development Cooperation (2011-2012). During his tour in Geneva, he played a key role as Korea’ representative for WTO/DDA negotiations. He also served as Chairman of WTO dispute panel and Government Procurement Committee (2005-2007).
Preceeding that, he had held various positions in the Korean foreign service including Director General for Bilateral Trade (2003-2005), Deputy Director General for Trade Policy Planning (2002-2003), First Secretary and Counsellor at the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1990-1993 and 2000-2002), Counsellor at Korea’s Permanent Mission in Geneva (1996-2000), Director for North America Trade Division (1995-1996), and Senior Assistant to the Foreign Minister (1994-1995).
Amb. Cho graduated from the College of Law, Seoul National University (SNU) in 1979. He continued his studies in public international law at the Graduate School of SNU (1979-1981) and international relations at the Oxford University (1982-1983).
Amb. Cho received the Order of Service Merit (Red Stripes) in 2008 and the Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit, Kingdom of Spain in 2012. He is married to Kim Hyekyung and has two children.
