Who is Park Jin?

Park Jin, a Seoul native, is known for his extensive expertise in foreign affairs from his versatile career straddling politics, academia and public service.

The 66-year-old, four-term lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) served as head of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Trade, and Unification Committee from 2008 to 2010. In that capacity, he helped pass the free trade agreement between Seoul and Washington and met one-on-one with then Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Joe Biden at the U.S. Congress in Washington.

Park entered politics as a press secretary for then President Kim Young-sam in 1993. He first won a parliamentary seat in a 2002 by-election and served two more successive terms. After an eightyear hiatus from politics, he was reelected for a fourth term in 2020 and later joined then-PPP presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol’s campaign for a key role in shaping the Yoon administration’s foreign policy.

Before entering politics, Park, a graduate of the law department of Seoul National University, served as a diplomat after passing the Foreign Service exam in 1977.

He also headed Yoon’s delegation to Washington, D.C., aimed at coordinating foreign and security policy with U.S. officials and congressional leaders.

He earned a master’s degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1985 and received a doctorate in politics from Oxford University in 1993.