List of diplomatic missions of South Korea

The following is a list of diplomatic missions of South Korea. Diplomatic missions of the South Korea shall be established in foreign countries under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Foreign Affairs to take partial charge of diplomatic or consular affairs under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Diplomatic missions of South Korea shall be classified into Embassy (Korean: 대사관), Representative Office (대표부) and Consulate-General (총영사관). According to the Act on the Establishment of Diplomatic missions abroad of South Korea, Consulate (분관) and Consular Office (출장소) may be established in the missions, as prescribed by Presidential Decree, if necessary to assign the said offices with affairs under the jurisdiction of the missions.^[1]

History[edit]

In the 1980s the Roh Tae-woo administration gradually initiated diplomatic links with Warsaw Pact countries, in a policy known as Nordpolitik. This led to the opening of representative offices and later embassies in socialist regimes in Europe and Asia. The Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s and an export-orientated trade policy led to South Korea to rationalize its diplomatic network. However, after bouncing back from the crisis, South Korea continues to open and re-open diplomatic missions in many countries. With neither North Korea or South Korea recognizing the sovereignty of the other state, nor the legitimacy of each other's governments, there are no South Korean diplomatic missions in North Korea.