2013 Van Fleet Award Honoree
The 2013 Van Fleet Award was awarded to all Korean and U.S. diplomats who have worked to strengthen the 60-year alliance. Ambassador Ahn from Washington and Ambassador Sung Kim from Seoul formally accepted the award on behalf of all the diplomats.
AHN HO-YOUNG
AMBASSADOR EXTRAORDINARY AND PLENIPOTENTIARY
OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Ahn Ho-Young was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the United States by Madame President Park Geun-hye in May, 2013. He has been serving as ambassador since June. Ambassador Ahn joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1978 and has had previous overseas postings in New Delhi; Washington, D.C.; Paris, at the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development; and Geneva, at the UN Secretariat and International Organizations. His domestic assignments have included stints at the Treaties Bureau, the International Trade Bureau, the International Trade Law Division, and the Multilateral Trade Bureau. More recently, in 2008, he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served in this position until 2011 when he was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Belgium and of the Korean Mission to the European Union. In 2012, Ambassador Ahn became the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade before he was appointed to his current position. Ambassador Ahn graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in political science in 1979 and received his Master’s degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in 1983. He previously taught at Korea University as an adjunct professor of law and diplomacy. Ahn Ho-Young is married and has two sons.
SUNG KIM
AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA
Sung Kim is the Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Korea. He was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 27, 2011, and confirmed by the United States Senate on October 13, 2011. Prior to his appointment, Ambassador Kim was the Special Envoy for the Six-Party Talks with the rank of Ambassador. Before that, he headed the Office of Korean Affairs at the Department of State from August 2006 to July 2008. Ambassador Kim also served in a variety of positions in the East Asia Pacific region including overseas assignments in Seoul, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. Ambassador Kim’s Washington assignments have included stints as a desk officer in the State Department’s Office of Chinese Affairs and Staff Assistant in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ambassador Kim worked as a public prosecutor in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Ambassador Kim was born in Seoul, Korea, and grew up in Los Angeles where he attended middle school and high school. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and completed a degree in law from Loyola. He also holds a Master of Laws degree from the London School of Economics. He is married to Jae Eun and they have two daughters.