Lee Jong-seok

Who is Lee Jong-seok?

Lee Jong-seok is the former South Korean Minister of Unification and chairman of the National Security Council, having succeeded Chung Dong-young on February 10, 2006. His appointment was controversial as some lawmakers wanted to separate the two posts while others were troubled by questions, raised during confirmation hearings, about his apparent failure to properly brief President Roh Moo-hyun. Prior to his appointment he had been deputy chief of the NSC.

He was a member of the ruling Uri Party. A graduate of Sungkyunkwan University who spent most of his career as an academic, he authored the 2000 "Understanding Contemporary North Korea". He is widely seen as an important behind-the-scenes figure in South Korea's neutralist realignment in foreign policy between the United States and North Korea, working on the Sunshine Policy and accompanying Kim Dae-jung to the North Korean summit meeting in 2000.