Wednesday, 24 May 2023, Berlin, Germany: Korean Ambassador in Germany, Hong Kyun Kim was welcomed for a tête-à-tête by the President of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag), Bärbel Bas, a top politician from the Social Democratic Party. Speaker Bas is in office since 26 October 2021.
Parliamentary diplomacy is an important component of an embassy’s mission in a given foreign country. Germany maintains a bilateral parliamentary system, with a Bundestag elected directly by the electorate as well as one upper chamber representing the German federal states, or Länder. Whereas Korea is home to but a unilateral National Assembly (대한민국 국회 大韓民國國會). The National Assembly has 300 seats, with 253 constituency seats and 47 proportional representation seats; 30 of the proportional representation seats are assigned on additional member system, whereas 17 proportional seats use the parallel voting method. Incumbent Speaker is Kim Young-joo.
Ambassador Kim joined the Foreign Service in 1984. He has been stationed in the USA, Senegal, Switzerland, Thailand as well as Belgium throughout his career. He took up the office of Ambassador Extraordintary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Korea on 24 October 2022 upon his accreditation before Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that took place at Bellevue Palace in Berlin-Tiergarten neighbourhood.
Previous to his ambassadorship, Ambassador Hong Kyung Kim was briefly Senior Staff at the Subcommittee on Foreign and National Security, The 20th Presidential Transition Committee from March 2022. Ambassador Kim has served in the capacity as Deputy Minister for Political Affairs as well as Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs.
Hong Kyun Kim holds a M.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, USA.
For further information
Embassy of Korea in Germany: https://overseas.mofa.go.kr/de-de/index.do
National Assembly of Korea: https://korea.assembly.go.kr:447
