The Consulate General of South Korea in Hong Kong (; ; ) is a consular mission of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to Hong Kong and Macau. It is located at 5-6F, Far East Finance Center 16, Harcourt Road, Admiralty, Hong Kong. It is one of the first South Korean overseas missions since the country's foundation, opened in British Hong Kong under approval of the United Kingdom in 1949, going through promotion and expansion in its history. Following the Transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in 1997, the Consulate General was able to keep its presence according to a Sino-Korean agreement concerning foreign missions stationed in Hong Kong.
History
The foundation of the Korean consular mission in Hong Kong has a background of the country's external trade. With the trade between Korea and Hong Kong started in 1947 and the establishment of Anglo-Korean diplomatic relations in 1949, progress was gained on setting up a consulate. On 8 February 1949, a letter from the British Government was sent to South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) with approval on the Consulate. Cha Kyun-chan, then Director of the MOFA's Investigation Bureau (), was appointed as the first Consul to Hong Kong, and went to his post by plane on 9 April. The Consulate was opened on 1 May, making it one of South Korea's first five missions abroad since the establishment of ROK Government.
On 29 November of the same year, the Consulate was promoted to the status of Consulate General, with Lee Jung-bang, councillor of the Korean Embassy to the Republic of China (ROC) became the first Consul General under appointment of the Korean MOFA. The Consulate General had its consular jurisdiction over both Hong Kong and Macau, and was relocated to several locations during the British colonial era, including Room 833-835, Man Yee Building, 67-71 Queen's Road, Room 2107-9, Realty Building. 71 Des Voeux Road and Korea Center Building, 3/F, 119-121, Connaught Road.
In 1980s, hotline between the Korean Consulate General and the Chinese Xinhua News Agency's Hong Kong Branch became an important communication channel between Seoul and Beijing following the hijacking of CAAC Flight 296 in 1983 and the desertion of Chinese Navy's Torpedo Boat 3213 to Korea in 1985. Also in 1985, in response to its contact to China on the field of economics, South Korea expanded the Consulate General on the mission's organization, function and the scale of diplomatic corps assigned to it, helping Korean companies and nationals in Hong Kong to trade with China. Korean diplomats with higher level was also assigned to Hong Kong as mission chiefs. Later in 1997, South Korea made consultation with China concerning the existence of the Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong, which was about to be transferred to China by the UK. On 15 April, resolution on the maintenance of Consulate General was made by the State Council of South Korea, and the two countries reached an agreement on 24 April, allowing the Consulate General to keep its presence in Hong Kong, the new Special administrative regions of China.
On 6 October 2009, the Korean Consulate General celebrated the 60th anniversary of its establishment, and a banquet was hosted to enhance the globalization of Korean cuisine. On 30 June of the same year, vacant space inside the Consulate General's auditorium and Consular Section () was used to set up a new Cultural Center () with exhibition sites and several kinds of IT equipment for cultural exchange. It was in February 2014 that the Consulate General opened its Korea Reference Room (), which had a collection of 500 books in Korean, Chinese, English and 250 pieces of DVDs, containing resources like humanities, history, literature and publicity-related information issued by the Korean Government.
Heads of mission
+ Heads of the South Korean mission to Hong Kong No.Names Names in Hangul/Hanja Tenure started Tenure ended Ref 1Cha Kyun-chan 16 April 194911 May 1949 2Kim Yong-shik 11 August 194927 November 1949 1Lee Jung-bang 27 November 194920 December 1952 2 Park Chang-joon 20 December 195223 August 1956 3Kang Choon-hee 23 August 195612 November 1960 4Choi Moon-kyung 8 March 196111 July 1962 5Moon Duk-choo 11 July 196219 October 1964 6Chin P'il-sik 1 November 19643 November 1966 7Chang Sang-moon 4 November 196631 October 1967 8Yun Kyong-do 5 November 19679 January 1972 9 Park Chang-nam 10 January 197214 February 1974 10Ryee Soo-woo 15 February 197430 August 1977 11 Lee Chang-soo 1 September 197720 December 198012 Kim Tae-ji 31 March 198120 May 1984 13 Kim Chong-hun 1 June 198418 October 1985 14Kim Jae-chun 18 October 198529 October 1987 15Kim E-myung 5 November 198730 June 1990 16Chong Min-kil 5 July 199030 April 199317 Nam Hong-u 5 May 199315 March 1996 18Park Yang-chun 20 March 199615 April 1998 19Shin Doo-byong 4 May 199831 December 2000 20Kim Kwang-dong 12 February 200119 January 2002 21 Kang Keun-taik 26 February 20026 September 2004 22Cho Hwan-bok 13 September 20042 March 2007 23Seok Tong-youn 21 March 20076 March 2010 24Jun Ok-hyun 8 March 201016 September 2012 25Cho Yong-chun 19 September 201225 March 2015 26 Kim Kwang-dong 18 April 201519 September 2017 27 Kim Weon-jin 10 January 20181 December 2020 28 Baek Yong-chun 8 December 202019 May 2023 29 Yoo Hyung-cheol 26 May 202313 July 2025 Chun Sung-hwan 13 July 2025Acting
See also
List of diplomatic missions of South Korea Consular missions in Hong Kong Koreans in Hong Kong Korean International School of Hong Kong
References