Min Dong-seok, ambassador for Africa-Middle East regional economic cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been elected the new president of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Alumni Association, the school said Thursday.

It said representatives of the association unanimously chose Min at its meeting in Lotte Hotel in downtown Seoul last month.

Min entered the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in 1973, studied Russian and passed the Foreign Service Examination in 1979 to become a diplomat.

President Min was appointed as an ambassador at the ministry on Feb. 3. He formerly served as the secretary-general at Korean National Commission for UNESCO for four years, starting from October in 2012.

Min also served as the first secretary of the Permanent Mission of Korea to the UN Secretariat and International Organizations in Geneva and first secretary of the diplomatic mission in the US. He worked at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific as well.

By Jie Ye-eun (yeeunjie@heraldcorp.com)