The CityNet Secretariat is pleased to announce that Mr. Yim Geun Hyeong as been selected as Chief Executive Officer. In his new role, Mr. Yim is responsible in overseeing the overall institutional and program activities of the organization in relation to the sustainable development of cities in Asia-Pacific. He was previously appointed as Ambassador for International Relations to the Seoul Metropolitan Government in January 2018, a position he held for two years. As a foreign policy adviser to Mayor of Seoul, he advised on the city’s international relations and diplomatic policies.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Yim joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after passing the High Diplomatic Service Examination in 1981 and spent multiple years as a diplomat in Europe. He also held the posts of Deputy Director-General and Director-General of European Affairs in succession, and served as an ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark in 2008 and to Hungary in 2014. In 2017, he was granted the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary for his contribution to promoting Korea-Hungary relations. Some of the main areas of his focus are Smart City policies and climate change response, and he believes city-to-city cooperation is essential to resolving the key issues on the global agenda.