Mr. Kwon Sei-joong is currently the Director-General, Climate Change, Energy, and Environment and Scientific Affairs Bureau since November 2017 following the Deputy Director-General in the same Bureau for more than a year and half. He assumed the Director of Protocol in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and the Director of Policy Analysis Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Korea. While working as director in charge of policy analysis and planning, he initiated the formulation of Korea’s basic foreign policy strategy as a middle power, contributing to complete ‘Intermediate Diplomatic Strategy’ in the period of 2013-2017. Before assuming the Directorship in MOFA, he was Director of Administration and International Organization Conversion at the Global Green Growth Institute in 2012-2013 with the responsibility of executing administrative and managerial affairs including tasks related to the conversion of the GGGI into a full-fledged international organization. As a career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea, he formerly served as Counselor and Deputy Head of Mission of the Korean Embassy in Kazakhstan (2010-2012) and as Director for Administrative and Political Affairs in the Korean Embassy in China (2008-2010).

Prior to his service overseas, he served as Assistant Secretary to the President for Information and Policy Monitoring regarding Foreign and Unification Affairs at the Office of the President from 2006 to 2008. He was Deputy Director of the Environmental Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2005 to 2006 where he led the efforts to formulate Korea’s position within UNFCCC climate change framework.

From 2001 to 2002, he served as Deputy Director of the North America Division III where he worked for strengthening the ROK-US Alliance, particularly from early stages of the war on terror. He updated and published the ROK/US Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), and contributed in the arrangement of an environmental management guideline called “Environmental Information Exchange and Access Procedures” between Korea and US armed forces in Korea. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he passed the Foreign Service Examination in 1994.

He received his education from both Korea and abroad. He earned a Ph. D. in Political Science at Kyungnam University in 2015. He attained his LLM from Northwestern University, Diploma of Higher European Studies from the Institut D’Études Politiques de Paris, IEP and BA in Political Science from Seoul National University. He is fluent in both written and spoken English, intermediate in Chinese and French. He is married with one daughter and two sons.