The Future Of Korea

Date: March 21, 2006
Location: The Four Seasons Las Vegas
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Members: $50
Non-Members: $75

Join us for a special dinner with His Excellency Lee Tae-sik, the Ambassador from Korea to the United States on March 21st.

Ambassador Jack Pritchard, the president of the Korean Economic Institute, will accompany him.

Veterans of the Korean War are urged to contact LVWAC at 702-545-5813 or via email to membership@lvwac.org for special information.

Ambassador's Biography:

Ambassador LEE Tae-sik is a career diplomat who has served his country through four decades and across four continents. After passing the High Diplomatic Service Examination and joining the Ministry in 1973, Ambassador Lee served in varied locations around the globe including Liberia, the Philippines, Austria, Yugoslavia and Belgium, among others.

He has also held several senior level positions throughout the Korean government, including Director-General of the International Trade Bureau at MOFA; Deputy Executive Director of Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO); and Assistant Secretary to the President in the Office of the President.

In July of 2000, he received his first Ambassadorial posting as he was appointed Ambassador to Israel, where he served until February of 2002 when he was called back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MOFAT) in the role of Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. As the Deputy Foreign Minister, he led Korean delegations in various security negotiations and consultations, particularly those addressing North Korea’s nuclear issue.

He returned to his duties as Ambassador in June of 2003, this time as Korean Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In January of 2005, he was posted back to Seoul as the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ambassador Lee became Ambassador to the United States in October of 2005, presenting his credentials to President Bush in November of 2005. Ambassador Lee has served in the US before, as a First Secretary of the Korean Embassy from 1981-1984.

Ambassador Lee was born on October 26, 1945 and is a native of the Republic of Korea. He pursued his academic studies in Korea and the United States, graduating from the Department of International Relations at Seoul National University in 1970 and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins in May of 1988. He is married with three sons.