Early career Early in her career, Kang worked for the
Korean Broadcasting System as a producer of English Service Division of Radio Korea. As an associate professor, she lectured at
Cleveland State University in Ohio and
Sejong University in Seoul. Between and after her career in academia, she assisted several speakers of the
National Assembly of South Korea on global issues in human rights, advancement of women and parliamentary diplomacy as presidential secretary for international relations and an interpreter. She was appointed by
Ban Ki-moon as Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator and Assistant Secretary-General for the
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in March 2013. In October 2016, she was appointed by then-Secretary-General-elect,
António Guterres as Chief of the Secretary-General-designate's Transition Team. Later in February 2017, she continued to work with Secretary-General Guterres as his Senior Advisor on Policy, equivalent to
Under-Secretary-General, before resigning for the foreign minister of South Korea.
Cabinet in 2018 ,
Federica Mogherini,
Julie Bishop, and
Chrystia Freeland at the
ASEAN Regional Forum Retreat in
Singapore on August 4, 2018 After an announcement of her nomination by the
Blue House in May 2017, Kang faced hard opposition from the opposition parties before and during her nomination hearing at the
National Assembly due to allegations, such as
address fraud and the nationality of her oldest daughter. Opposition was partly composed of claims that she lacks experience dealing directly with global powers - the U.S. in particular. During her hearing, she asked for understanding given that she was unable to manage her children in detail as a working parent, did not share finances with her husband to support her parents as their oldest child, and lived abroad for a long time. With public statements of support from a trade union of the Ministry, Japanese military sex slaves, or widely known as "
comfort women", Korea NGO Council for Overseas Development Cooperation, and her eleven predecessors, respectively, along with the public support of 60% and more,
President Moon appointed her as his first foreign minister, a post that requires a nomination hearing but not the expressed approval from the legislature, in June 2017. With her and other female cabinet members, President Moon was able to keep his election promise to fill over 30% of his cabinet with women. During her talks with
Hansung University students, she revealed that she had never met President Moon in person before her conferment ceremony at the Blue House. She is the third head of the ministry to attend the high-level segment of the regular sessions of the
Human Rights Council after her predecessors
Ban Ki-moon and
Yun Byung-se. As of 2019 she is the first Korean foreign minister to make keynote speech at every regular session of the Council during their tenure. Because of the
COVID-19 pandemic,
Israel has imposed an entry ban on South Koreans and foreign tourists who stayed in South Korea in the past 14 days. Kang described Israel's response as "excessive". As of December 2020, Kang is the only cabinet minister - and one of four at a ministerial level along with
Hong Nam-ki,
Suh Hoon and
Kim Sang-jo - to continue to serve President Moon from the beginning of his presidency in 2017. On January 20, 2021, President Moon nominated his first director of
National Security Office,
Chung Eui-yong, to replace Kang.
Post-cabinet In February 2021, Kang became the last member of President Moon's first cabinet formed in 2017 to be replaced after more than three and a half years. A month later, she joined
Park Young-sun's campaign in Seoul mayoral by-election as its chair of international cooperation committee. In August 2021, Kang was appointed a distinguished professor emeritus at the Graduate School of International Studies at
Ewha Womans University, the first university she visited as the country's foreign minister in 2018. In October 2021, Kang announced her candidacy for the next Secretary General of the
International Labour Organization. In the final vote, she came in fourth; the position eventually went to Houngbo.
South Korean ambassador to the United States On 1 October 2025, Kang was appointed by president
Lee Jae Myung as South Korea's ambassador to the United States. == Affiliations ==