YOON&YANG

Ambassador Jong-moon Choi is a Senior Advisor at Yoon & Yang LLC and his main practice areas include international law, economic security, foreign investment and trade, and geopolitical and geotechnological risks.

Prior to joining Yoon & Yang, Ambassador Choi had a distinguished career in the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 40 years and culminated his service as Second Vice Minister in charge of multilateral affairs. They include nuclear power, non-proliferation, ODA, UN Security Council, human rights, climate change, international economic issues, international law and public diplomacy. Ambassador Choi served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France and Sri Lanka. Ambassador Choi also served in the Office of the President in two different administrations.

Among the highlights of his service as Vice Foreign Minister, Ambassador Choi was the ROK government’s representative of the Korea-US High-Level Economic Council Meeting with emphasis on economic security issues such as the strengthening of semiconductor supply chains, electrical vehicles and batteries, 5G networks, strategic minerals. Ambassador Choi also led the delegation of the Korea-China Joint Economic Committee. In addition, he represented Korea at G-20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Italy and the Ministerial Level Meeting at COP26.

Ambassador Choi was deeply involved in Korea’s operations to evacuate Afghan co-workers and their families to Korea in 2022. He also led an inter-agency task force for vaccine diplomacy during the pandemic.

At Yoon & Yang, Ambassador Choi’s core experiences in foreign investment initiatives, environmental and energy projects, and overseas construction will provide critical insights in emerging markets. Regionally, Ambassador Choi has unmatched expertise in ASEAN affairs in addition to Europe and MENA. He will also advise on potential political risks contained in overseas projects for both foreign and Korean companies.

In his capacity as Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs, he oversaw a range of multilateral negotiations and was the Secretary General of the Secretariat for the Republic of Korea-ASEAN Special Summit (2014). As Director-General of South Asian and Pacific Affairs (2009-2010), Ambassador Choi played a critical role in “the New Asian Initiative” expanding South Korean investments in key regional countries. His tour as Minister-Counsellor at the Korean Embassy in Myanmar coincided with massive political change. Earlier Counsellor at the ROK Embassy in the United States, he was instrumental in leading operational negotiations with the U.S. Department of Defense on alliance issues including the ROK Joint Support Group for the Iraq or Zaytun Division.

On top of these experiences, Ambassador Choi also worked closely with the National Assembly when he was Director-General for Planning and Management (2008-2009) and headed the ministry’s administrative and budgetary process.

He received three Order of Service Merit from the Korean government for outstanding contributions and also received the Grand Officier de l'Ordre national du Merite from France in 2022. A graduate of Yonsei University (1982), Ambassador Choi received his M.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California (1987). Ambassador Choi is fluent in English with a working knowledge of French and Spanish.