H.E. Kim  Hak-Su
Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

The Biography

Kim Hak-Su, a national of the Republic of Korea, was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan as Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Mr. Kim began his work at ESCAP on 1 July 2000.

Mr. Kim, a prominent economist, served as the Republic of Korea's Ambassador for International Economic Affairs. He has vast experience in central banking, development planning, government think-tanks and private sector management, as well as international organizations.

Mr. Kim began his professional career in 1960 as an economist with the Bank of Korea, Republic of Korea's central bank, served as Secretary to the Minister of Commerce and Industry in 1969 and worked for the London Representative Office of the Bank of Korea (1971-1973). He joined Daewoo Corporation in 1977 as Executive Director and served Daewoo International Corporation in New York as its President.

Mr. Kim joined the United Nations system in September 1981 and worked as Chief Planning Officer and Chief Technical Adviser under the United Nations Department for Technical Cooperation and Development during most of the 1980s, in island state countries, such as Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. After serving the United Nations system for eight years, he joined the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy as a Senior Research Fellow, researching and publishing on issues regarding international economic cooperation during the period from 1989 to 1993.

He served as President of the Hanil Banking Institute before taking up the recent post of Secretary-General of the Colombo Plan, based in Colombo, Sri Lanka (1995-1999). He revitalized the 24-member country intergovernment Colombo Plan in Asia and the Pacific, stressing human resources development and focusing on South-South cooperation. He was appointed the Republic of Korea's Ambassador for International Economic Affairs in June 1999, attending various international meetings as the head of his Government's delegation.

Mr. Kim was born in Wonju, Republic of Korea, studied as an undergraduate at Yonsei University, earned a master's degree from Edinburgh University, United Kingdom, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of South Carolina, United States.