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Korea’s new consul general for the Southeast U.S. may be feeling a sense of deja vu as he arrives in Atlanta this month.
Then again, the city is now a very different place than when Young-jun Kim earned a master’s degree in international politics from Georgia State University.
That was in 1995, before the city’s Olympic coming out party in 1996, and prior to a mass migration to Georgia that has resulted, by some estimates, in a combined Korean and Korean-American community with a population of nearly 100,000.
Between his graduation and his current role, Mr. Kim has had quite the diplomatic journey, with two postings in Belgium, five years in Ethiopia, a stint in the office of the Korean president and multiple trade-related roles.
His last two jobs were director general for economic affairs at the Korean foreign ministry, followed by a less-than-a-year posting as Korea’s government representative for Arctic affairs.
Mr. Kim is married with one son. He replaces Ambassador Seong-jin Kim, who recently headed back to Seoul.
The newly arrived Mr. Kim plans to speak at the Southeast-US Korean Chamber of Commerce annual dinner on Jan. 25 at the Kia Training Center in West Point, Ga.
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