Secretary-General SG/A/1019 BIO/3808 HR/4904

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS KYUNG-WHA KANG OF REPUBLIC OF KOREA

DEPUTY HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of Kyung-wha Kang ( Republic of
Korea) as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.  The appointment is
at the Assistant Secretary-General level.

Ms. Kang is currently
Director-General of International Organization at the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, with a portfolio that covers a
wide range of UN issues, including human rights.   She served as
Minister at the Republic of Korea Mission to the United Nations from September
2001 to July 2005.   She chaired the Commission on the Status of
Women for its forty-eighth and forty-ninth session in March 2005, which marked
the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and reaffirmed
the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for women’s advancement and
gender equality.

Before joining the Foreign
Service in 1998, Ms. Kang worked for the National Parliament of the Republic
of Korea, assisting the Speaker of the National Assembly on global issues in
the fields of human rights, women’s advancement and parliamentary
diplomacy.  During that time, she was also active in women’s
organizations in Korea, serving as the spokeswoman of the Korean Women’s NGO
Committee at the Beijing Conference in 1995.  Earlier in her career, she
worked for the news bureau and the international radio bureau of the Korean
Broadcasting System, and lectured in universities both in Korea and the
United States.

Ms. Kang received MA and PhD
degrees from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in the United
States.  Her doctorate work was in the field of
international/intercultural communication.  She is married to Yillbyung
Lee of Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea.  They have two daughters and
one son.

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