Ex-Diplomat Named Exec. Director of N-E Asian History Foundation
By Michael Ha
Staff Reporter
The Northeast Asian History Foundation tapped Shin Yeun-sung to become its executive director.
Shin, a former diplomat, joined the foundation last year as ambassador of international names and notations. His focus has been on raising awareness around the world of Korean geographical names and notations concerning the Northeast Asian region.
Prior to coming on board at the foundation, Shin, 54, worked as a diplomat and a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He was an ambassador to Jordan from 2005 to 2007 and was Korea's mission representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) between 2004 and 2005.
From 2002 to 2004, he was secretary of planning and director of the Korea International Cooperation Agency. From 2000 to 2002, he was a commissioner at the International Economic Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Shin is a graduate of Korea University and passed the national foreign affairs entrance examination in 1977.
The foundation, based in Seoul, was founded in September 2006 to help resolve issues surrounding the continuing distortion of history in the Northeast Asian region.
Its stated goal is to establish ``a basis for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia by confronting distortions of history that have caused considerable anguish in this region and the world at large, and developing a correct understanding of history through comprehensive long-term research and systematic and strategic policy development.''
The foundation states that ``contested narratives of collective memory and mutually divergent interpretations of the past in Korea, China and Japan have generated political tension and inflamed popular emotion in the region."
Its library collects and manages documents related to the history of Northeast Asia and territorial divisions in the region. The foundation also conducts research on the history of Korea-Japan relations and Korea-China relations and maintains international and domestic public-relations activities.