{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["korea-c83cb19b3d8306"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/kim-kyung-won-940bc65157/","countrySlug":"korea","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/kim-kyung-won-940bc65157/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Kim Kyung-won fled North Korea with his brother during the Korean War. After schooling in Seoul he studied at Williams College and Harvard, earning a doctorate in political science in 1963. He taught in Canada and the United States before returning to Korea University. President Park Chung-hee recruited him as an adviser in 1975; he subsequently served as chief of staff under Chun Doo-hwan and as ambassador to the United Nations and the United States.","In a later appraisal, former prime minister Lee Hong-koo reported that Kim had urged clemency for Kim Dae-jung and opposed American endorsement of a military crackdown on the 1987 democracy movement. Kim declined to write a memoir of his government service.","After leaving office, Kim led the Seoul Forum for International Affairs and continued working on alliance and nuclear policy. Scott Snyder recalled projects that Kim co-led with Robert Scalapino, including a recommendation to remove American tactical nuclear weapons before their withdrawal in 1991. Kim and Nicholas Platt also co-chaired the Council on Foreign Relations task force that examined the 1994 US–North Korean nuclear agreement in its 1995 report, Success or Sellout?","Kim directed the Institute of Social Sciences and founded the journal Sasang. A devoted listener to Wagner, he also led the Korea Wagner Association. Parkinson's disease curtailed his activities in his later years; he died in 2012."],"id":"korea:kim kyung-won","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-940bc6515792a7194499.html","name":"Kim Kyung-won","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["appraisal","memorial"],["appraisal"],["memorial"],["appraisal","memorial"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-940bc6515792a7194499.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"751606876e54ad14","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2013-08-26","id":"appraisal","locator":"Lee Hong-koo's full appraisal","publisher":"Korea JoongAng Daily","title":"Remembering a liberal realist","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/opinion/remembering-a-liberal-realist/10345363"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2012-08-12","id":"memorial","locator":"Scott Snyder's memorial","publisher":"Council on Foreign Relations","title":"Remembering Ambassador Kim Kyung-won","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.cfr.org/articles/remembering-ambassador-kim-kyung-won"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Undated; lists Kang Kyung-wha as incumbent from October 2025","id":"mission-5a99a134f5cacf2c3bad","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Mission history, former chiefs and jurisdiction","type":"Mission record","url":"https://www.mofa.go.kr/us-ko/wpge/m_4472/contents.do"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"2024 (copyright)","id":"mission-15f3df0746809ebc7fb9","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Korean Americans in Washington, D.C.: A Historic Context Study","type":"Mission record","url":"https://planning.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/op/publication/attachments/Korean%20Context%20COMPLETE.pdf"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"Design 1983; completion 1986; photograph dates not supplied","id":"mission-53e812ca4e34d046a8f9","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Ambassador’s residence of Korea embassy in USA","type":"Mission record","url":"https://www.spacea.com/renew/works_detail.html?idx=169&lang=eng&p_gbn=all"}],"topics":["democratization","nuclear disarmament","political science","Korean War refugees"]},"schemaVersion":1}