Chung Eui-yong

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Chung Eui-yong

| native_name = {{nobold|정의용}}

| office = 37th Minister of Foreign Affairs

| president = Moon Jae-in

| term_start = February 9, 2021

| predecessor = Kang Kyung-wha

| office1 = Special Advisor to the President on Foreign Affairs, Diplomacy and National Security

| term_start1 = July 3, 2020

| president1 = Moon Jae-in

| predecessor1 =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|4|14}}

| alma_mater = Seoul National University
Harvard University

| image = 정의용.png

| module = {{Infobox Korean name/auto

|hangul = %정의용

|hanja = 鄭義溶

| child = yes}}

| office2 = Director of the National Security Office

| termstart2 = May 20, 2017

| termend2 = July 2, 2020

| predecessor2 = Kim Kwan-jin

| successor2 = Suh Hoon

| president2 = Moon Jae-in

| caption = Chung in 2018

| term_end1 = January 20, 2021

| successor1 = Kim Hyun-jong

| primeminister = Chung Sye-kyun
Kim Boo-kyum

| termend = May 12, 2022

| successor = Park Jin

}}

Chung Eui-yong ({{korean|정의용}}; born April 14, 1946) is a South Korean diplomat and a politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2021 to 2022. Chung was previously President Moon Jae-in's first Director of National Security from 2017 to 2020.{{Cite news |url=https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20210208009000325 |title=FM Kang leaves office after years of daunting diplomatic tasks |work=Yonhap News Agency |access-date=February 8, 2021 |date=February 8, 2021 |last= Song |first=Sang-ho}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210208000916 |title=Moon appoints new foreign minister |work=The Korea Herald |access-date=February 8, 2021 |date=February 8, 2021 |last=Ahn |first=Sung-mi}}

Career

File:Chung Eui-yong and Kim Jong-un.jpg]]

A 1968 graduate of Seoul National University, Chung joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1971. He subsequently served as Korean Ambassador to Israel (1997–1998), Deputy Minister for Trade (1998–2001), and as Korean Ambassador to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Korea to the UN Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva (2001–2004). He was returned to the 17th National Assembly in the 2004 elections as a proportional representative for the Uri Party. In the National Assembly, he was a member of the Special Committee on United States–Korea Free Trade Agreement. He then became Secretary-General of the International Conference of Asian Political Parties. On May 20, 2017, newly-inaugurated president Moon Jae-in appointed him as the ministerial-level Director of the National Security Office.{{cite web|url=https://www.csis.org/analysis/impact-player-chung-eui-yong|first=Mathew|last=Ha|title=Impact Player: Chung Eui-yong|publisher=Center for Strategic and International Studies|date=May 23, 2017|access-date=March 8, 2018}}{{cite news|url=http://biz.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2017/05/21/2017052100726.html?related_all|script-title=ko:[프로필] 정의용, 외교관 출신의 靑국가안보실장...다자외교 통상전문가|newspaper=The Chosun Ilbo|date=May 21, 2017|access-date=March 8, 2018}} In July 2020, Chung was replaced by Suh Hoon and reshuffled to President Moon's Special Advisor on Foreign Affairs, Diplomacy and National Security.{{Cite web|title=Moon names new spy chief, unification minister, national security advisor|url=https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2020/07/03/national/politics/Park-Jiewon-In-Leeyoung-Suh-Hoon/20200703164300428.html|access-date=July 29, 2020|website=Korea JoongAng Daily|language=en}} In January 2021, he replaced Kang Kyung-hwa as the new South Korean Foreign Minister.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nknews.org/2021/01/south-korea-to-replace-kang-kyung-wha-the-nations-first-woman-foreign-minister/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120084830/https://www.nknews.org/2021/01/south-korea-to-replace-kang-kyung-wha-the-nations-first-woman-foreign-minister/|archive-date=January 20, 2021|title=South Korea to replace Kang Kyung-wha, the nation's first woman foreign minister | NK News}}

Political activity

In March 2018, as South Korea's Special Envoy to North Korea, Chung Eui-yong visited Pyongyang to discuss the required steps to denuclearise North Korea.http://english.donga.com/Home/3/all/26/1240505/1 | title= Seoul to send special delegation to Pyongyang next week He then flew to the United States for a meeting with President Donald Trump and to announce the Trump-Kim summit.{{Cite news |last=Times |first=The New York |date=March 9, 2018 |title=Seeking 'Peaceful Resolution': Transcript of South Korean Adviser's Remarks |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/08/world/asia/transcript-south-korea-nuclear-trump.html |access-date=January 31, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}

On November 4, 2019, at a waiting room on the sidelines of the ASEAN Plus 3 (Japan, China, and South Korea) summit held near Bangkok, when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talked with South Korean President Moon Jae-in for 11 minutes, Chung Eui-yong took photos, and they were published without the approval of the Japanese side.{{Cite news|url=https://japan-forward.com/japanese-officials-irked-by-south-koreas-photo-ambush-of-prime-minister-abe-at-asean-meeting/ |author=Takao Harakawa |title=Japanese Officials Irked by South Korea's 'Photo Ambush' of Prime Minister Abe at ASEAN Meeting |date=November 11, 2019 |website=Japan Forward |access-date=August 9, 2020}}

Chung had been in charge of bilateral intelligence-sharing agreement, the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA), with Japan.{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/11/24/national/politics-diplomacy/top-south-korean-official-accuses-japan-distorting-facts-intel-pact-negotiations/ |author= |date=November 24, 2019 |title=Top South Korean official accuses Japan of distorting facts in intel-pact negotiations |work=Kyodo News |access-date=January 21, 2021}}

Conviction

On February 19, 2025, Chung was sentenced to a suspended prison term of ten months by the Seoul Central District Court for abuse of power involving the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen who had killed 16 of their colleagues in the Sea of Japan in 2019.{{Cite news|title=4 officials under Moon get suspended prison terms in N. Korean fishermen deportation case |url=https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20250219009400320 |work=Yonhap News Agency|language=en-US |last=Kim |first=Han-joo |date=February 19, 2025|access-date=February 19, 2025}}