Home > National > Politics

Lee Jae Myung administration nominates Roh Jae-heon as ambassador to China

Published: 11 Sep. 2025, 12:46 Updated: 11 Sep. 2025, 17:37

Roh Jae-heon, the eldest son of former President Roh Tae-woo and the chairman of the East Asia Culture Center, speaks at a forum jointly hosted by the JoongAng Ilbo and the Korea Peace Foundation on Aug. 19, 2022. [JOONGANG ILBO]

The eldest son of former President Roh Tae-woo, 60-year-old Roh Jae-heon, has been nominated as Korea’s next ambassador to China — the first to be named under the Lee Jae Myung administration.

According to multiple diplomatic sources, the government recently completed the nomination process and is now awaiting China’s agrément — a formal approval of the ambassadorial appointment by the host country.

Roh, the chairman of the East Asia Culture Center, has longstanding ties with China. He served as head of the social and cultural subcommittee of the Committee for Future-Oriented Development of Korea-China Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2021 to 2022, during the Moon Jae-in administration. In 2012, to mark the 20th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and China, he founded the East Asia Culture Center — previously the Korea-China Culture Center — and has since promoted bilateral cultural exchange, frequently traveling between the two countries.

From Aug. 24 to 27, Roh joined a special delegation sent by President Lee to China. Alongside Park Byeong-seug, former speaker of the National Assembly and head of the delegation, he met Zhao Leji, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and China’s third-ranking official, and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng. The delegation called for efforts to restore Korea-China relations to a stable trajectory.

President Lee’s decision to nominate Roh is widely seen as part of a diplomatic initiative to mend somewhat strained ties with China. Roh Jae-heon is highly regarded in Beijing, where his father, former President Roh Tae-woo, is remembered as a key architect of the 1992 normalization of relations between Korea and China.

Roh Jae-heon, right, speaks with the then-Chinese ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming, left, at former President Roh Tae-woo's house in Yeonhui-dong, western Seoul, on Aug. 19, 2020. [JOONGANG ILBO]

Just ahead of the 33rd anniversary of the two countries establishing diplomatic ties, Chinese Ambassador to Korea Dai Bing paid tribute with Roh Jae-heon at Roh Tae-woo’s grave in Paju, Gyeonggi, on Aug. 19.

In 2020, the year he took up his post in Seoul, then Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming visited the ailing former president and referenced the Chinese idiom " yinshuisiyuan" — remembering the one who dug the well when drinking water — to express gratitude for Roh’s contributions to Korea-China ties.

When Roh Tae-woo passed away at the age of 89 in October 2021, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the former president had made “significant contributions” to the development of bilateral relations and had maintained a friendly posture toward China.

Roh Jae-heon’s nomination also carries political implications for national unity. Though briefly affiliated with the ruling People Power Party’s predecessor in the mid-1990s, Roh Jae-heon has made efforts in recent years to reconcile with the victims of state violence. In 2019, he visited the May 18th National Cemetery in Gwangju in a personal capacity to pay his respects to the victims of the pro-democracy uprising that took place in the city between 1979 and 1980 and offered an apology to their bereaved families. He visited again in May 2020, this time laying a floral tribute with a ribbon reading, “President Roh Tae-woo honors the spirits of the May 18 Democracy Movement.”

Lee Jae Myung, then presidential candidate for the Democratic Party at left, exchanges pleasantries with Roh Jae-heon, the eldest son of former President Roh Tae-woo, during the funeral for Roh Tae-woo held on Oct. 27, 2021. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

“President Lee is committed to ending divisive politics,” said a source from the presidential office. “This nomination reflects that intention.”

The appointment has come as a surprise to some within the Democratic Party (DP) and its supporters. During the Moon administration, close confidants such as former presidential chief of staff Noh Young-min and former policy chief Jang Ha-sung were appointed to the ambassador post in Beijing.

According to another source, President Lee’s only direct contact with Roh Jae-heon was at the late Roh’s wake in October 2021, when Lee was the DP’s presidential candidate. At the time, Lee told reporters that he appreciated “the former president’s efforts, however limited, to reckon with the May 18 pro-democracy movement.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHUNG YEONG-GYO [[email protected]]