MA and PhD, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Formerly: worked for the Seoul-based Korean Broadcasting System and lectured at universities in South Korea and the United States; worked for the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea on global issues in the fields of human rights, women's advancement and parliamentary diplomacy. 1998, joined the Korea Foreign Service. 2001-05, Minister, Republic of Korea Mission to the United Nations, serving as Chairwoman of the Commission on the Status of Women for its 48th and 49th session. 2006, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights. Then Director-General, International Organization, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea. Since March 2013, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).