New envoy to Japan named

By Yi Whan-woo

Lee Joon-gyu

Lee Joon-gyu, a career diplomat, has been named Korea’s new ambassador to Japan, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.

Lee, 62, will succeed Yoo Heung-soo, a former four-term lawmaker who stepped down in April after the two countries reached a verbal agreement, Dec. 28, over Japan’s wartime sexual slavery of Koreans.

Lee, who previously served as ambassador to India, will be tasked with taking follow-up measures to implement the controversial deal over the former sex slaves.

The two nations are to set up a foundation to compensate victims by June in line with the agreement. But Japan's Shinzo Abe administration has claimed this can only be done if Korea removes a statue representing comfort women placed across the street from the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.

Lee, a native of Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, has worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1978.

Yoo built his career on Japan in the 1990s. He studied as a visiting scholar at Keio University in Tokyo in 1995.

He has also served as ambassador to New Zealand and India.