Biography
Joon Oh is Chair of Save the Children Korea and President of the Korea Council of Children’s Organizations. He also teaches as an Eminent Scholar Professor of United Nations Studies at Kyung Hee University, South Korea, and at the KDI School of Public Policy and Management, South Korea, as a visiting professor. Professor Oh was previously Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea to the United Nations in New York from 2013 to 2016. During this time, he also served in leadership roles within two of the six principal organs of the United Nations; as the 71st President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as President of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Before that, he was Korean Ambassador to Singapore from 2010 to 2013 and Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Seoul from 2008 to 2010.
Professor Oh received a master’s degree in International Policy Studies from Stanford University, United States, in 1991. His diplomatic career thereafter has garnered prestigious awards from South Korea and other countries worldwide; The Korean Government awarded him the Order of Service Merit twice, in 1996 and 2006. He received a Korea Social Contribution Special Award in 2021 and a Global Korea Award from Michigan State University in the United States in 2018. Rehabilitation International (RI) gave him a Global Presidential Award in 2016 in acknowledgment of his achievements as President of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He also received the 2014 Youngsan Diplomat of the Year Award for his work on North Korean human rights issues. He published his first book in Korean ‘For Mica, Who Contemplates Life’ in 2015.
Keynote Presentation (2024) | Global Citizenship Education for Sustainable Development: Korea's Perspective
