Seung-soo Han > CV

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Seung-soo Han served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (2008-09) and was President of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (2001-02). He was Korea’s Foreign Minister (2001-02), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (1996-97), Chief of Staff to the President(1994-95), Korean Ambassador to the United States (1993-94), and Minister of Trade and Industry (1988-90). Seung-soo Han was a three-term Member of the Korean National Assembly (1988-92, 1996-2004).

Seung-soo Han also served as Special Envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General for Climate Change (2007-08), and for Disaster Risk Reduction and Water (2013-18), Member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability (2010-12), Member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (2007-15), Member of the Temasek International Panel (2004-18), and Independent Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered plc (2010-19).

Seung-soo Han was educated at Yonsei University (BA), Seoul National University (MPA) and the University of York, UK (Ph.D.1968/D.Univ.1997) in England. Prior to his entry into politics in 1988, he had a distinguished academic career as Professor of Economics at Seoul National University (1970-88), taught economics and/or did research at the University of York (1965-88), Cambridge University Department of Applied Economics (Emmanuel College) (1988-70), Harvard University Department of Economics (1985-86), Tokyo University Komaba Campus (1986-86) and National Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) (2004-06) in Tokyo, Japan.

Seung-soo Han is currently, among others, Senior Adviser at Kim & Chang Law Office, Chair of the High-Level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP) (2007-), Host of the Biennial UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters (2013-), and Vice President of the Club de Madrid.

His major international achievement includes the global crisis management in the aftermath of the 9/11 as President of the 56th Session of the UN General Assembly, passage of the unanimous resolution of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting on the Declaration on Green Growth in June 2009 in his capacity as Chairman of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting when he was Prime Minister.
Seung-soo Han was awarded many domestic and foreign decorations and prizes; the 6th European Communities Prize in 1971 for his doctoral thesis, Growth and Function of the European Budget, Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the United Nations in 2001 and an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) from HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom in 2004.
Seung-soo Han has several publications both in English and Korean, Beyond the Shadow of 9/11, A Year at the United Nations General Assembly (SAIS, Washington, DC, 2007), Here for Global Good; Collected Speeches of Han Seung-soo (YBM, Seoul, 2015) which was translated into Chinese and published by Tsinghua University Press, Beijing in 2016 and There for Global Good (YBM, Seoul, 2025).