{"record":{"aliases":[],"appointmentIds":["korea-9946a81ca7b56c"],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/oh-jay-hee-62daee1c2b/","countrySlug":"korea","entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/oh-jay-hee-62daee1c2b/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Oh Jay-hee joined the foreign service through the 1956 examination after studying political science at Seoul National University. As treaty division chief and then political officer at the mission in Japan, he worked on the final stages of the 1965 normalization negotiations. He later headed the Asian affairs bureau and served as minister in Tokyo and, from 1980, Washington.","Arriving in Islamabad as consul general in 1982, before Pakistan and South Korea had full diplomatic relations, Oh worked with local supporters including Muhammad Afzal Cheema to advance recognition. Relations were established on November 7, 1983, and he became the first Korean ambassador there. He subsequently served as vice foreign minister and ambassador in Britain and Japan.","After retirement Oh chaired the Korea–Pakistan Friendship Association and continued promoting exchanges between the two countries. Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam in 2022 for his contribution to the relationship. His later oral history testimony also returned to the 1965 Japan negotiations: he said that the issue of military sexual slavery had not been discussed in the claims talks in which he participated. Oh died on August 23, 2026."],"id":"korea:oh jay-hee","identifiers":{},"legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-62daee1c2bcaaf098f35.html","name":"Oh Jay-hee","notes":[],"paragraphSources":[["obituary"],["obituary"],["obituary","award"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-62daee1c2bcaaf098f35.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[],"relationships":[],"researchStatus":"reviewed","reviewedOn":"2026-10-28","revision":"c5422adbe74f02f0","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2026-08-25","id":"obituary","locator":"Full career obituary","publisher":"Yonhap News Agency","title":"북한 저지 뚫고 파키스탄 정식 수교…오재희 前외무부 차관 별세","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20260825064900704"},{"accessedOn":"2026-10-28","date":"2022-05-02","id":"award","locator":"Award report and career paragraphs","publisher":"The Korea Times","title":"First Korean ambassador to Pakistan receives Pakistani civil award","type":"contemporary-report","url":"https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/foreignaffairs/20220502/first-korean-ambassador-to-pakistan-receives-pakistani-civil-award"},{"accessedOn":"","date":"","id":"mission-06b67bd9438f7459bd53","locator":"","publisher":"","title":"Oh Jay-hee — mission record (1981)","type":"Mission record","url":"https://2009-2017.state.gov/s/cpr/rls/94073.htm"}],"topics":["Japan normalization","Pakistan recognition","treaty negotiations","oral history"]},"schemaVersion":1}