WeGO Introduction
Secretary General Jeong-kee Kim
Dear WeGO Members and Partners,
Greetings from the WeGO Secretariat in Seoul.
The WeGO Secretariat is pleased to introduce Mr. Jeong-kee Kim as the newly appointed Secretary General of WeGO. His appointment was officially made on October 1, 2024, by the president of WeGO, who is also the Mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. With a distinguished academic background and extensive experience in law, governance, and sustainable development, he is well-equipped to lead WeGO in its mission to promote smart and sustainable urban growth. We look forward to the opportunity to meet with our members and partners from around the globe to exchange ideas and reaffirm our commitment to smart, sustainable development.
Just before assuming the position of the Secretary General of WeGO, the World Smart Sustainable Cities Organization, Mr. Jeong-kee Kim served as the Chief Executive Officer of CityNet, the Asia-Pacific Local Government Network for Economic and Social Development, and as a distinguished chair professor at the Business School of Dongguk University.
Throughout his career, Mr. Kim has been engaged in a variety of professional pursuits.
In 2000, he was elected as the first president of Korea Cyber University, later renamed Soongsil Cyber University, a pioneering Internet-based institution jointly founded by Yonsei University and The Chosun Ilbo. In 2007, he served as the International Committee Chairman for Presidential Candidate Myung-bak Lee. In 2008, he was appointed the 8th Consul General of Korea in Shanghai (with Ambassadorial Rank) and as the Commissioner General of the 2010 Shanghai Expo Korea Pavilion. In 2010, he was nominated as the Principal Vice Minister of the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 2012 to 2020, Mr. Kim worked as a senior attorney-at-law at DR-Aju LLC while simultaneously teaching as a distinguished professor. He taught courses on law, political science, international relations, history, sociology, economics, business administration, future studies, and negotiation at Korean universities (SNU, Yonsei, Korea, Kyunghee, Dongguk, Kookmin, Hannam, Seonggyul, Yongin) and Chinese universities (Peking, Nanjing). In 2021, he served as the Head of the Political Reform Group within the Political and Administrative Committee and as a Political Strategy Advisor for Presidential Candidate Seok-yeol Yoon.
Mr. Kim graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1990 and earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence from Marquette University Law School in 2000. He furthered his education by completing prestigious Senior Executive Programs at Harvard University and Seoul National University, and conducted research in North Korea as a scholar at Peking University in 2005.
As an accomplished author, Mr. Kim has written several best-selling books, including ‘Georo English Studies Series for College Students’ (1983-1995), ‘I Challenge the Possibility of One Percent’ (2002), ‘The Art of Negotiation’ (2004), and ‘Korea and the World’ (2023).