Dr. Hong Yong-Pyo is Minister of Unification of the Republic of Korea. Before his ministerial appointment in 2015, he held the position of Secretary to the President for Unification at the office of the president. 

Dr. Yong-Pyo was a member of the Standing Committee of the National Unification Advisory Council. 

His professional career spans over a decade in academic research and teaching as Professor at Hanyang University, and Research Director at the Korean Association of International Studies. He also served as working-level member of the subcommittee on Foreign Affairs, National Defense and Unification of the 18th Presidential Transition Committee, Chairman at the steering committee of the Korean Reunification Society of the Citizen’s Coalition for Economic Justice. Dr. Hong received his B.A. and M.A. in Political Science from Yonsei University in 1987 and 1989, respectively. He later completed his PhD in International Relations at the University of Oxford in 1996.