Han Seung-soo

Han was educated at Yonsei University (BA, 1960), Seoul National University (MPA, 1963), and University of York, England (Ph.D., 1968 /D.Univ., 1997). Prior to his entry into politics in 1988, he had a distinguished academic career as Professor of Economics at Seoul National University (1970–88), taught economics and/or did research at the Universities of York (1965–68), Cambridge (Emmanuel College, 1968–70), Harvard (1985–86), Tokyo (1986–87), and GRIPS (2004–06). He has honorary degrees from the Universities of York, Gangwon National, Yonsei, KAIST and Kuala Lumpur. ==Political and diplomatic career==

Han is currently, among others, Chair of High-Level Experts and Leaders Panel on Water and Disasters (HELP, 2007-), Host of the Biennial UN Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters (2013-), Chair of the Water Advisory Group of Asia Development Bank (2014-), Vice President of Club de Madrid, Member of the WMO Water and Climate Leaders Panel, and Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation International Advisory Board Member, Vice-Chair of Zayed Sustainability Prize Jury, Co-Chair of International Finance Forum (China), Chair of the Jury for IFF Global Green Finance Award, Distinguished Professor at Zhejiang University International Business School, Chief International Advisor of International Monetary Institute (IMI) of Renmin University of China, Senior Advisor to Research Institute of ASEAN Economy (Shaoxing, China), and Founder of GG56 Ltd., a big data and blockchain startup. He was also Chairman of the 2014 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games bid Committee. His major international achievements include being one of the initiators of the APEC in 1989 as Minister of Trade and Industry, Korea's accession to the OECD in 1996 when he was the chief minister in charge of negotiations as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the global crisis management in the aftermath of 9/11 as President of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (the day to be elected was 11 September 2001) when he was Foreign Minister, and the passage of the unanimous resolution of the OECD Ministerial Council Meeting when he was Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea. == Publications ==

Han has many publications in both Korean and English, the most recent ones being Here for Global Good: Collected Speeches of Han Seung-soo (YBM, Seoul, 2015) which was translated into Chinese and published by Tsinghua University Press in 2016, Beyond the Shadow of 9/11; A Year at the United Nations General Assembly (SAIS, Washington DC, 2007). ==See also==