Foreign Ministers of Korea, Japan, and China agreed to appoint Shin Bong-kil, Ambassador for International Economic Cooperation of Korea's Foreign Ministry, as the first Secretary General of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat during the trilateral summit held in Tokyo on May 21. The Ministers alsoagreed on Mao Ning, Director of the Office for Korean Peninsula in China, and Matsugawa Rui, Japanese Councilor to Korea, for the posts of Deputy Secretary Generals.
Secretary General Shin Bong-kil is a full-time diplomat, having served as the Korean Minister to China and as a secretary at the Korean embassy in Japan. He also served as the Director for Press Relations of the Light Water Nuclear Reactor Project team, the Korean Ambassador to Jordan, and most recently as the Foreign Ministry's Ambassador for International Economic Cooperation.
The Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat is an international organization set up in pursuance of the agreement concluded in the trilateral summit, with the aim of systemizing and organizing cooperation among Korea, Japan, and China. Its standing secretariat will be based in Seoul. After preparatory steps such as employee recruitment are taken, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat will be officially launched.
