JeongSeon Forum 2021

Widely considered to be the leading international economic advisor of his generation, Jeffrey Sachs has pioneered innovative approaches to economic development, poverty alleviation, and enlightened globalization.
In 2004, and again in 2005, Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. The New York Times called him “probably the most important economist in the world.” The French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur named him one of the world’s fifty most important leaders on globalization.
Sachs is the author of two landmark books on enlightened, sustainable global development, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet warns that global economic collapse lies ahead unless we embrace a new economic paradigm that is inclusive, cooperative, and environmentally aware—all achievable goals. In his New York Times bestseller The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time, Sachs offers an inspiring big picture vision of the keys to economic success in the world today.
Sachs is also the Director of The Earth Institute, Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University.
He is Special Advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and has held several other high-level advisory positions in the international sphere. Sachs has advised governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia and Africa, as well as a host of international development agencies.

Kumsil Kang served as the 55th Minister of Justice after serving as a Judge at the Seoul High Court. Currently, she is a Managing Partner and the Head of ESG Center at the One Law Partners, Chairman of the Gangwon Art & Culture Foundation, and leading the People for Earth, non-profit organization, as an Executive Director. She published the book ‘The Politics of Life’.

Jae Choe received his PhD in Biology under the guidance of E. O. Wilson and Bert Hölldobler at Harvard University and taught at the University of Michigan and Seoul National University. He is currently a Distinguished Chair Professor at Ewha University. He has served as the President of the Ecological Society of Korea, President of Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Co-President of Climate Change Center, and the Founding Director of National Institute of Ecology. He is currently serving as the President of the Biodiversity Foundation established with the help of Jane Goodall, Co-President of National Assembly Climate Change Forum, and UNFCCC NAP Ambassador. He is an associate editor of Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology and on editorial board of Evolutionary Psychology, Frontiers in Behavioral and Evolutionary Biology, Ecological Research, Journal of Ethology, and Journal of Insect Behavior. In addition to publishing nearly 150 scientific papers and 5 books in English, he has written or translated more than 50 books in Korean and given numerous public lectures. Most recently, he worked as the Editor-in-Chief for the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior (published in 2019 by Academic Press) and joined the editorial board of a highly acclaimed International Review of Science, Inference.

Ambassador Yoo Yeon-chul has served the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 34 years. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador for Climate Change in 2018, he served as Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the State of Kuwait(2016) and as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative at the Korean Permanent Mission in Geneva, Switzerland(2013). Ambassador Yoo has been consistently involved in environmental issues since he participated in his first climate change negotiation in 1991. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he served as Director of Environment Cooperation (2003) and Deputy Director-General of the Energy and Climate Change (2009), and he was the Director-General for International Cooperation in the Ministry of Environment (2011). As Ambassador of Climate Change, he had joined various climate conferences as chief negotiator. He was also Executive Director of P4G Summit Preparatory Office, contributing to the successful P4G Seoul Summit held in May 30-31, Korea.
He is now serving as Vice Chair of UNFCCC’s Subsidiary Body for Implementation(SBI)

Dr. Oyun Sanjaasuren is the Director of External Affairs of Green Climate Fund, where she leads the fund’s work on resource mobilization, partnerships, communications and advocacy.
Dr. Oyun served as the first President of the United Nations Environment Assembly, the Governing Body of UN Environment (2014-2016), and has been an active advocate for sustainable development, climate change and water security. She served as Chair of the Global Water Partnership and is an Advisory Board member of the Future Earth. Formerly, one of the leading politicians in Mongolia, she served as a Member of Parliament (1998-2016), as Minister of Environment and Green Development and Minister of Foreign Affairs. She is a founder of the Zorig Foundation, a leading Mongolian NGO that advances democracy and supports youth leadership and education.
Oyun has a Ph.D in Earth Sciences from University of Cambridge.

Hojeong Park is Professor at Korea University with main research fields on resource & energy economics. He graduated from Seoul National University and University of Maryland, particularly focusing on climate change issues. He has contributed to introduce Emission Trading Scheme into Korea in the early stage of development. He currently serves as President of Korea Resource Economics Assoication and a policy advisor of various government committees for carbon neutral policy. His popular books include Carbon War (2015) that addresses the importance of market mechanism to solve global warming issues.

KIM Hanil is currently working at McDonald Korea as the SCM Senior Director. He began his career from P&G Korea and has worked as a Supply Chain professional in multi-national companies in the USA, Japan & Singapore over the past 20 years. He took several global & Asia leadership roles in those companies and delivered outstanding results in cost savings, productivity improvement, talent development and ESG activities. He is in charge of a key role in leading McDonald Korea’s sustainability campaign called “Small but big changes”. He introduced “Straw-less Lid” for the first time in the QSR industry this year and made a big contribution to reducing plastics. He is also currently leading a waste management and recycling project.

Josie Wexler is a researcher, writer and editor at Ethical Consumer. Prior to joining Ethical Consumer she worked for an Norwegian environmental consultancy helping multinational companies to reduce their carbon emissions, and modelled and wrote about how it would be possible to decarbonize the UK (Zero Carbon Britain 2030) for the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales. Prior to that she studied Environmental Technology at Imperial College London.

Mario Salomone is Secretary-General of the worldwide network organizing the WEECs (World Environmental Education Congresses on sustainability/environmental education and education for sustainable development. The 11th WEEC will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, in 2022).
Mario Salomone has a degree in Philosophy. He is a Sociologist, university professor, journalist, writer of novels and tales, lecturer in hundreds of conferences, and editor of the scientific journal Culture of Sustainability.
Currently, he teaches Environmental Sociology at the Master in Socio-environmental Sustainability of Agri-food Networks at the Torino University. He has been a professor of Environmental Education, Environmental Sociology, and Tourism in Local development at the University of Bergamo and Political Communication at Milano IULM University.
zHe also sits on the Boards at UNESCO Chair on sustainable development and territory management (Torino University, Italy) and the Club of Rome, Italian Chapter.
Mario Salomone has a role in environmental communication as co-founder and past President of the Italian Federation of environmental media and co-founder of the IECA (International Environmental Communication Association).

Englishman Andrew Salmon, a Seoul resident since 1998, is Northeast Asia Editor of Hong Kong-based media Asia Times. His work has previously appeared in CNN, Forbes, France24, The International Herald Tribune, The New Republic, The South China Morning Post, The Times, and The Washington Times. He is the author of five books, including the Korean War histories To the Last Round (London, 2009) and Scorched Earth, Black Snow (London, 2011) as well as Modern Korea: All That Matters (London/New York 2014). In 2010, Andrew won a “Korean Wave” award at the National Assembly for its contribution to the literature of the war. In 2016 Andrew was made a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for his writings on the British role in the Korean War. Andrew was educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey, and holds a BA from the University of Kent and an MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. A Council Member of the Royal Asiatic Society’s Korea branch, his interests include history, martial arts and beer.

David is the CEO & president of Starbucks Coffee Korea. Before he took office in March 2019, he worked in prominent global companies as a global marketing expert for 20 years. Previously, he served as marketing director and brand manager at Nike (1999 – 2003), L’Oréal (2004 – 2005) and at Johnson & Johnson Korea (2006 – 2010). He also served as CEO of Double A Korea (2010 – 2014); Specialized Korea (2014 – 2016); and Under Armour Korea (2016 – 2018) respectively.
David communicates with partners(employees) frequently on site or through e-mail, and emphasizes active communication with and care for store partners. On his first year as CEO of Starbucks Korea, he led the company's record business results with 1.8 trillion KRW in sales and 175 billion KRW in operating income, each showing a 22.8 percent and 22.5 percent increase year on year increase respectively.

Since taking office, David has played a key leadership role in Starbucks Korea's growth through strengthening IT-based services, developing localized beverages and food, as well as marketing strategies for premium specialty coffee.
In March 2021, Starbucks Korea opened “Byuldabang,” a reflection of the company’s innovation and know-how based on its 22 years of experience in the market, using the brand’s Korean nickname as the store name.
Under his leadership the company has carried out active social impact initiatives including opportunity youth independence support campaign with K-pop group BTS, opening of a senior barista training center and community store with a unique profit-sharing model, and activities to preserve the Korean culture. In December 2019, he received the Presidential Citation for his efforts to preserve and promote Korean cultural heritage.
In April 2021, the company announced its resource positive strategy “Better Together” for a more sustainable future with bold commitments in service of this vision: it will reduce its carbon footprint by 30% and increase employment opportunities by 30% by 2025. As part of this initiative, Starbucks Korea recently launched its reusable cup share program in Jeju.

KIM Sang-wook is a physicist studying quantum science and quantum information and a professor of department of physics in Kyung Hee university. He is also a well-known science communicator writing columns of many newspapers and magazines, and science books for public, and appearing on popular TV programs.

Lee Wook-jung is a former KBS and KBS Media PD, currently the CEO of Food Odyssey Co., Ltd. & Executive Producer of the city regeneration project through cooking in Seoul. He received his BA in English Literature from Yonsei University, his MA in Anthropology from the Graduate School of Seoul National University, and his MA in Broadcasting from the Graduate School of Northwestern University. Having accumulated various experiences at KBS, he won the Peabody Award, called the Pulitzer Prize of the broadcasting industry, through the documentary in 2010, and studied abroad at the culinary school 'Le Cordon Bleu' to develop his own foodmentary area. I left and completed the highest level course. Since then, he has won the 51st Baeksang Arts Awards for his liberal arts award for " Food Odyssey " and has produced outstanding works such as " Food Odyssey – Taste of the City" and "UHD Korean Food." Books include Noodle Road, Cook Cook, Lee Wook-jung PD's Food Odyssey Kitchen, and Chicken Odyssey.

OH Dong-suk is a Korean constitutional scholar. He is currently a professor at the School of Law, Ajou University. He was interested in human rights of students and soldiers, freedom of thought and freedom of assembly, and then expanded his awareness to ecological issues, and recently he is very interested in earth jurisprudence. His major papers include “Infectious Disease Prevention and Human Rights and Constitutional Law”(2021), “Interpretation of the Korean Constitution from the Perspective of Earth Jurisprudence”(2021), and “Earth Jurisprudence and Constitutional Law”(2020). He is a member of the editorial board of the National Assembly Research Service, Legislation and Policy, a member of the Commission for Examination of Alternative Service under the Commissioner of the Military Manpower Administration, and a member of the National Police Agency’s human rights committee,

Subin, a fifth-generation lawyer, enrolled in 2007, after completing his graduation from NUALS securing a second rank. He did his LLM in 2011 and his PhD from NLSIU in 2018. Extremely passionate about Rights of Nature, Environmental Rights and Human Rights, he is involved in Public Interest Litigations and several initiatives involving coordination and conduction of environmental protection campaigns, human rights issues, rural extension programmes and legal aid clinics, in India. He is the first and only Indian to be a part of the 160-member Expert Member Group of the Harmony with Nature Network, United Nations. Subin was a Linnaeus-Palme Fellow at Kungliga Tekniska högskolan(KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, in 2014 and 2015 and delivered lectures on Water Law. He was one among the 15 selected from around the world, and invited to present his doctoral work at the First Postgraduate Colloquium on the Frontiers of International Environmental Law held at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, in September 2017. His doctoral thesis, Earth Justice: Developing a New Jurisprudence has been published by Thomson Reuters in 2019, and apart from this he has more than 40 publications in national and international journals.

He strives to ensure that there is a marked change in human attitude by focusing more on the ‘right of environment’. This, he believes, is to be achieved by imposing affirmative duties, on man, by harnessing a value-based rationale which fosters environmental stewardship. He believes that realizing intrinsic value is paramount, and in instilling in man the principles of Earth Justice. He loves to research more on how to imbibe cultural and traditional practices, which augur well for the environment, in law.

CHOI Gloria Hyean-kyung is serving as vice president of Amaranth Co., LTD, a manufacturer of cosmetics and bio health products, leading the department of Planning and Strategies. Obtaining her master’s degree and Ph.D. in politics and international relations, she became to be interested in environment and related policies. While working as an intern at KVO, a Korean NGO under the UN, she was engaged in drilling water well projects in Kenya as part of corporate efforts to improve global environment. In the process, she began to pay attention to what kind of efforts were made and what kind of plans were built by domestic businesses for improving environment around the globe.

JO Kyoung-ae is a lawyer in Korea. She worked as a law-clerk at a Seoul Appeal Court. At One Law Partners, she deals with labor cases, civil cases and gives legal advices to corporations.
Her great interest is in the right of the children all over the world, as she did volunteer teaching for children in Kenya and Kyrgyzstan for a little while.
Also, she is interested in environmental issues and animal welfare problems.
She tries to minimize her use of disposable products. She has been studying Earth Law at a group named ‘People for Earth’. She joined in Animal Law Society and wrote an article of the right of animals. Also she feeds and cares feral cats.

Amb. CHOI Jai-chul is a retired career diplomat who has served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(MOFA) of Korea from 1981 to 2019. He dealt with environmental issues such as climate change, biodiversity, etc… at the forefront of multilateral diplomacy. Between 2014 and 2016, as Ambassador for Climate Change, he was the Chief Negotiator in the process of adoption and ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement. Then, from Nov. 2016 to May 2019, he served as the Korean Ambassador to Denmark and contributed to launching the “Partnering for Green Growth and the Global Goals 2030” (P4G). In June 2020, he published his book “Climate Negotiations Journal”, sharing his experience as he took part in climate negotiations. He is currently a Visiting Professor at the Inha Univ., and at graduate school of environment of Seoul National Univ., working to teach and educate the future generation on global environmental issues. He also delivers lectures on climate and global environment at various universities as Honorary Professor of National Diplomatic Academy. Simultaneously, he also serves as the President of the Bureau International des Expositions(2019-2021) based in Paris.

Graduated from the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Hanyang University and Masters and Ph.D. in Plasma Physics at University of Wisconsin-Madison. 1991-1997 Research Assistant/Associate Professor at University of California-Los Angeles and San Diego. 1996-1997 participated in the design of KSTAR, a magnetic field fusion device at Princeton University during the sabbatical period, returned to Korea, and worked at the Korea Basic Science Institute/National Fusion Research Institute. In 2011, founded Green Science Co., Ltd. and was appointed as a professor at Handong University, and until now, has served as a professor. With interest in research, development, and education to restore the order of creation through the restoration of ecosystems around the world

Cedric Philibert is a senior analyst of energy and climate, with a focus on renewable energy for industry and transports, electrification and hydrogen. He is an associate researcher to IFRI (Institut Français des Relations Internationales).
He worked for 20 years at the International Energy Agency on climate change policies and renewable energy technologies. He authored many IEA publications such as Beyond Kyoto (2002, with J. Pershing), IEA Technology Roadmaps on solar, wind and hydro power, Solar Energy Perspectives (2011), Renewable Energy for Industry (2017), and Solar Energy: Mapping the Road Ahead (2019).
A journalist by training, C. Philibert served as an advisor to the French Environment Minister, then to the CEO of the French Agency for the Environment ADEME , before joining UNEP, then the IEA.
C. Philibert has published numerous papers in peer-reviewed and other journals, and as contributions to many books and reports.

Dr. Shaham is an Israeli Diplomat who served in Asia, US, Europe and Africa and recently in Abu Dhabi as Head of Mission in the International Agency for renewable energy (IRENA) . Given global challenges, Dr. Shaham currently focuses on innovation in the field of disaster relief where he aims to create an AidTec ecosystem in Jerusalem.

CHOI Seok-jai is the center manager of the CDM certification center in Korea Energy Agency. He has managed the boiler and pressure vessel inspection scheme, the certification and standardization of new and renewable energy facilities, and has various experiences as an inspector and an auditor. Based on those experiences, he is supervising the CDM certification center which conducts validation and verification on the CDM projects under the Kyoto Protocol, and also he validates and verifies the CDM projects of developing countries.

Dr. YOO Suk Jae, who is a scientist specialized in the fusion and plasma science and technology, is the first president of Korea Institute of Fusion Energy (KFE). He got his bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering in 1987 and his master’s degree on ‘Characteristics of TEA CO2 Laser for Sulfur Isotope Separation’ in 1989 from Seoul National University. He also got his Doctorate from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany in 1997. He was engaged as a staff scientist by National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI), ex-KFE, in 1999 and thereafter built his careers as Director of Division for Application Technology Development, Director of Plasma Technology Research Center, Vice President of NFRI, and President of NFRI. He gave lectures on fusion and plasmas as an adjunct professor at the department of Fusion and Plasmas in UST and at the graduate school of plasma convergence engineering in Gunsan University. He is now working as a member of the board directors for ITER council, Korea Vacuum Society, and Korea Research Institute on Climate Change, respectively.

KIM Sang-hyun, the President of Korea Research Institute on Climate Change, majored Environmental Science and did a Bachelor degree and a Master degree from Gangwon National University after Chuncheon High School Graduation. He was a Director of Environment Division in 2016 and a Director of Energy Division from 2016 to 2018 in Gangwon Provincial Office. Before he is in the KRIC, he was a Cooperative Director in Ministry of Environment

CHOI Seung-jun, a politician, is currently serving as governor of Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province. As the 40th governor of Jeongseon County, he has been a member of the 4th Council and chair of the 5th Council of Jeongseon County, chair of Jeongseon Credit Cooperatives, president of Jeongseon County Sports Council, and chair of Jeongseon Junior Chamber International. In association with “Green New Deal” for a sustainable development centering around environment and human, he has been committed to bringing changes and establishing relevant policies. He has also put efforts in infrastructure building in order to make the County a hometown for healing so that visitors could enjoy clean nature while having relaxing time.

Dr. PARK Yang-woo is a professor of the Department of Cultural Policy and Management, Graduate School of Arts, Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Korea. He was a vice president of the Chung-Ang University. Dr. Park had worked in the Korean government for more than 25years. He is a former minister and vice minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. He had served as a president of not only the renowned Gwangju Biennale but also Korean Association of Motion Picture Industry and Korean Association of Film Distribution. In academia, Dr. Park had been a president of the Korean Association of Arts Management and the Korean Hospitality and Tourism Academe.

“JEON You-sung” majored in theatre production and made his debut as a Tongyang Broadcasting Company (TBC) variety show writer in 1969. Since then, he has appeared in a comedy program where he wrote his own script and used the term a “gag-man” (which refers to a “comedian” in English) to call himself. He is the first “gagman”, and the job of “gagman” has now become a very common occupation. He was the first to open late-night theaters and late-night bowling venues and polarized them in Korea, Also, he opened an exclusive theater for comedy in a rural village and such project hailed a huge success, which is why he is widely known as an “idea bank”.

Park Jung-kwon majored in civil engineering and is an expert in civil engineering. After joining the Korea Land and Housing Corporation in 1991, he was in charge of licensing land development, civil engineering construction, Technology screening, and Smart national demonstration city construction projects. He is also working on a Ph.D. program in construction management. He is also a regular member of the Korean Civil Engineering Association, the Korean Construction Management Association, and the Korean Geotechnical Association.

YU Jeong-joon is Vice Chairman and CEO of SK E&S.
He was CEO of SK Energy R&C in 2008, CEO of SK Lubricants in 2009 and CEO of SK Group’s Global Growth Committee in 2011.
He was appointed CEO of SK E&S in 2013, has led SK Group’s LNG business and played a decisive role for SK E&S to become Korea’s first private company to complete an LNG value chain.
He also expanded the company’s business into areas including hydrogen, renewables and energy solutions, proactively responding to climate change.
He was Chairman of Independent Power Producer Association in 2014 and 2015, Chairman of Korea District Heating & Cooling Association from 2016 to 2017 and Vice Chairman of Korea New & Renewable Energy Association in 2017. In 2021, he was selected as the first chairman of Energy Alliance in Korea, contributing to development of Korean energy business.

Environment & ESG expert with 27 years of professional experience from consulting, industry, and research organizations in strategy, investment, and policy well aligned with educational background of environment & business. KPMG consulting experience as Asia Pacific regional head of Climate Change & Sustainability in leading regional network of 12 countries. POSCO(a global steel maker) industry experience in environment & energy business development & investment. An external expert for Green Climate Fund, IETA Board Member, a member of high level Gov. Committees, and an adjunct professor with frequent publications, media exposure, speech at global conferences with teaching in executive MBAs based on comprehensive experience from corporate to consulting, engineering to financing, public to private, and industry to academy.

LEE Hyung-hee is the president of SK SUPEX Council’s Social Value Committee and the vice chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI). He served as the Head of MNO Business While leading the social value committee, he is focusing on creating social value and boosting ESG management within SK Group. He was at the center when introducing SK’s scheme for measuring social value and extending its presence through the development of international standard for impact measurement.
In 2020, he led the SK group to be the first Korean companies to join the global initiative RE100 and by extension, he took the lead in declaring Net Zero in June 2021.

LEE Si-woo is currently the Senior Executive Vice President of POSCO and the head of the Safety and Environmental Division. After graduating from the Metallurgical Engineering at Hanyang University, he joined POSCO in 1985.
He is a field expert who has served as the Plant Leader at Cold Rolling Plant 1 in Pohang Steelworks (2000), the head of Department at Cold Rolling Department in Gwangyang Steelworks (2007), the head of POSCO-Maharashtra, an Indian cold-rolled production corporation (2015), the head of the Steel Production Strategy Office in POSCO (2018), and the head of the Gwangyang Steelworks (2019), and then the head of the Steel Production & Technology Division (2021.1).

Park Sung-hyun is a traditional financier and strategic expert who has worked in Shinhan Financial Group for 30 years in charge of the strategy team, future management team and strategic planning team. After graduating from Seoul National University’s economics, he received Master of Business Administration from the same university and Master of Law in Northwestern Univ. School of Law.
Now he is working as Shinhan Financial Group head of the strategy and sustainability(CSSO). The Group CSSO is responsible for both strategy and sustainability for the entire Group, including its Bank, Investment, Asset Management and Insurance subsidiaries, and takes the role as the leader in Shinhan’s ESG efforts to integrate ESG into the strategy and business.
Under the leadership of the Group CSSO, Shinhan Financial Group became the first Korean financial institution to declare and implement TCFD-aligned disclosures, proactively drafted and joined the Principles for Responsible Banking of UNEP FI(UN Environment Program Finance Initiative) with its global peers and stipulated the Shinhan Financial Group Action Principles towards Climate Change.
In November 2020, He led the Shinhan Financial Group to commit to net-zero carbon emission “Zero Carbon Drive” for the first time in the East Asian country. Based on these achievements, he was selected as UNEP FI Global Steering Committee Asia Pacific Banking Sector Representative.