The Uzbek government has reappointed Vitaliy Fen, 70, as ambassador to the Republic of Korea.
Fen, who is of Korean descent, had served in Seoul for a record 18 years until August 2013 after opening the Uzbek Embassy as charge d’affaires in 1995. He was promoted to ambassador in 1999.
After nearly four years of retirement, Fen was rehired to represent the Central Asian country “to further strengthen the bilateral cooperative and friendly relations between Seoul and Tashkent,” an embassy official said.
Diplomatic sources here said Fen’s comeback was meaningful in that Seoul and Tashkent are celebrating the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations and both countries have new presidents.
Diplomatic relations were established on Jan. 29, 1992. Ever since, the two countries have engaged in vigorous cooperation in all areas.
The foundation of bilateral relations between the two nations was laid on Dec. 30, 1991, when South Korea was among the first foreign countries to recognize Uzbekistan’s independence.
Fen served as the dean of the diplomatic corps in Seoul for seven years from 2009 until his departure.
Fen and his wife Lyudmila, also of Korean descent, are proficient in the Korean language.
Fen’s grandparents were forced to move to the Soviet Union during the 1910-45 Japanese occupation and settled in Vladivostok before being part of a mass deportation in 1937 to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic where he was born in Tashkent.