Dr. Han Seung-soo served as Prime Minister of Republic of Korea (2008-09). He is currently Member of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability and the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, and Chair of High-Level Expert Panel on Water and Disaster/UNSGAB. He also serves as Chair of the Global Green Growth Institute, Senior Adviser at KIM & CHANG law office, Independent Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered plc, and Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation Board Member. He was Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Climate Change (2007-08) and Chair of the 2009 OECD Ministerial Council Meeting in Paris where he played a pivotal role in unanimously adopting the OECD Declaration on Green Growth on 25 June 2009.

He was President of the 56th Session of the UN General Assembly (2001-02), Korea’s Foreign Minister (2001-02), Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister (1996-97), Chief of Staff to the President (1994-95), Korean Ambassador to the U.S. (1993-94) and Minister of Trade and Industry (1988-90). He was a three-term Member of National Assembly directly elected by the people of his hometown, Chuncheon in Gangwon Province (1988-2004).

Educated at Yonsei University (BA), Seoul National University (MPA) and the University of York, England (Ph.D.,1968/D.Univ.,1997), and prior to his entry into politics in 1988, he had a distinguished academic career as Professor of Economics at Seoul National University (1970-88) and taught economics and/or did research at the Universities of York (1965-68), Cambridge (Emmanuel College, 1968-70), Harvard (1985-86) and Tokyo (1986-87). He was Senior Fellow at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo (2004-06).