---

The ROK-UK Strategic Partnership for the Future: Economy, Security, Technology and Culture  

A Talk by Park Jin, Former South Korean Foreign Minister  

Date and Time 

Friday 25 April 2025, 10.30-12.00  

Location 

Bradfield Room, Darwin College  

Event Description 

At a time of acute global and regional uncertainty, former Foreign Minister, Park Jin will reflect on the urgent need and the key opportunities for strengthening bilateral cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea (ROK). Dr Park has a long history of engagement with the United Kingdom, having taken a degree in political science at Oxford University in 1993, as well as heading, in the past, the Oxbridge Society of South Korea, which brings together ROK-based alumni of the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. In his role as the ROK’s 40th Foreign Minister, he played a pivotal role in helping shape the new bilateral strategic partnership between Britain and the Republic of Korea, culminating in the Downing Street Accord of November 2023. In the last decade, the Republic of Korea has increasingly assumed both a global and regional role, reflecting its increased economic influence, the development of a new Indo-Pacific strategy in December 2022, and the articulation, via the country’s new National Security Strategy in June 2023, of a new posture as a “Global Pivotal State”. Dr Park’s speech will reflect on the achievements to date of the bilateral partnership and potential areas for extended cooperation in the future. The talk will be followed by an extensive question and answer session and engagement with audience members.   

About the Speaker  

Dr. Park, Jin is the 40th Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea (2022~2024), and is currently working as a Senior Advisor at Kim & Chang law firm and a Distinguished Invited Professor at the KAIST. He started his public career as a young diplomat at the Korean Foreign Ministry, and later served as a Presidential Secretary for Press Affairs and also as a Secretary for Political Affairs under Kim Young Sam administration (1993-1998). Afterwards, He was elected to the National Assembly, and served four terms in Jongno and Gangnam districts in Metropolitan Seoul (during 16th, 17th, 18th, and 21st National Assembly). During his political career (2002~2012 & 2020~2024), he served in the Science, Technology, Information and Communication Committee, National Defense Committee, Intelligence Oversight Committee, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee, and the Knowledge Economy Committee. Especially, he served as the Chairman of Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Unification Committee (2008-2010), and lead the passage of the ROK-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the North Korean Human Rights Act. He was also actively engaged in global parliamentary diplomacy with the U.S., China, Japan, Europe, ASEAN, the Middle East, and Africa.

He passed the 11th National Foreign Service Examination, and graduated from the College of law at Seoul National University (BA), Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (MPA), New York University Law School (LL.M.), and received a doctorate degree (D. Phil.) in politics from St. Antony's College, Oxford University. He is also a member of the New York Bar (since 2001). He is a former ROK Navy Officer.

This event is jointly hosted by Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Centre for Geopolitics at the University of Cambridge.

This event is sponsored by the Korea Foundation.