Seoul: President Lee Jae Myung has appointed a senior lawyer as the ambassador to the United Nations, the foreign ministry said Monday. Cha Ji-hoon, a partner at Yoon and Yang, also known as the Hwawoo law firm, will head the New York-based South Korean mission as the first top envoy to the international organization under the Lee government, the ministry said.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the appointment takes effect immediately as, unlike other ambassadorial positions, the post to the U.N. does not require prior consent from the host country, known as agrement. Cha, a longtime associate of Lee, was part of Lee’s defense team in 2020, when the president, then the governor of Gyeonggi Province, stood trial on charges of election law violations. The Supreme Court overturned the lower court’s guilty verdict and sent the case back to an appeals court, effectively acquitting Lee.

Born in 1963 and a native of South Jeolla Province, Cha has spent much of his legal career with Minbyun, a progressive lawyers’ group, while also serving at the National Human Rights Commission and on legal advisory committees for the justice ministry and the Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. Cha is expected to accompany Lee to the 80th session of the U.N. General Assembly’s High-level Week next week.

South Korea is also the rotating chair of the U.N. Security Council this month.