Lee Tae-sik

Lee Tae-sik joined the foreign ministry in 1973 after studying international relations at Seoul National University; he later studied at Johns Hopkins. His assignments ranged from Liberia and the Philippines to European posts, including Yugoslavia and the European Union. He directed international trade work and served as deputy executive director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization. He then became ambassador to Israel and Britain, with intervening service as deputy foreign minister handling security negotiations. ¹

Lee returned to Washington as ambassador in October 2005, more than two decades after serving there as first secretary. His public outreach included a January 2008 Stanford discussion with U.S. ambassador Alexander Vershbow. ^{1, 2}

On November 7, 2008, Lee and Homeland Security official Paul Schneider signed an agreement for sharing information to prevent and combat serious crime. It formed part of the arrangements preceding Korea's entry into the American Visa Waiver Program. The agreement concerned traveler screening and information exchange. The foreign minister had signed the earlier visa waiver memorandum. ^{3, 4}