Kyung-wha Kang

Kyung-wha Kang was appointed Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights "in September 2006 and took up the position on 15 January 2007. Her appointment is at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.

"Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Kang, a national of the Republic of Korea, was Director-General of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic, with a portfolio that covered a wide range of UN issues, including human rights. She also served as Minister at the Republic of Korea Mission to the United Nations in New York and chaired the Commission on the Status of Women for its forty-eighth session in 2004 and its forty-ninth session in 2005, which marked the tenth anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

"Prior to 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 also served as the spokeswoman of the Korean Women's NGO Committee at the Beijing Conference in 1995. Earlier in her career, she worked for the Korean Broadcasting System, and lectured in universities both in Korea and the United States.

"Ms. Kang graduated from Yonsei University where she completed a BA in political sciences and diplomacy. She then obtained an M.A. in mass communication and a Ph.D. defending a doctoral thesis on intercultural communication, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, United States.

"Ms. Kang was born on 7 April 1955 in Seoul, Korea . She is married to Yillbyung Lee. They have two daughters and one son."