I am covering trend, food and fashion. Previously, I covered diplomacy, city, environment and unification.
Jiri Dienstbier, foreign minister of the former Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992, who contributed to establishing diplomatic relations with South Korea, passed away on Jan. 8. He was 73.
According to the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Seoul, the minister approved the establishment of the relations in 1990, and came to visit Seoul the same year as the very first high-ranking Czechoslovak official.
Dienstbier came back in March last year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Korea-Czech relations.
Born on April 20, 1937, the former minister joined the Communist Party in 1958. His life completely changed in 1968 following the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.
Expelled from the Communist Party, Dienstbier was a leading voice against the communist regime. He became the first post-communist foreign minister of the former Czechoslovakia at the end of the Velvet Revolution in 1989.
The country later separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
I am covering trend, food and fashion. Previously, I covered diplomacy, city, environment and unification.