JAKARTA, 12 October 2018 – Kung Phoak took office today as the new Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of ASEAN for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). He will serve a three-year term from 2018 to 2021.

Guided by the ASEAN Charter, DSG Kung will support the Secretary-General of ASEAN by providing leadership in implementing the ASCC Blueprint and will lead the ASCC Department of the ASEAN Secretariat. He will also oversee the implementation of projects under ASCC that focus on forging a common identity and building a caring and sharing society.

DSG Kung is from Cambodia and he succeeded DSG Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee of Thailand. Prior to assuming the position, he served as the Undersecretary of State at the Office of the Council of Ministers of the Royal Government of Cambodia and was also working on foreign policy in the Office of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Before this appointment, DSG Kung headed the Cambodian Institute for Strategic Studies, which started in 2014 as a network of Cambodian and foreign scholars called Cambodian Strategic Study Group. It aimed at providing pragmatic, non-partisan and evidence-based policy solutions.

DSG Kung was doing his PhD in political science and international relations at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, and obtained his graduate degree in public policy at Australian National University. He has written and published extensively on foreign policy, defense policy, national politics, and international trade.

As stated in the ASEAN Charter, the Secretary-General of ASEAN shall be assisted by four Deputy Secretaries-General, of different nationalities from the Secretary-General and shall come from four different ASEAN Member States. Two DSGs are nominated by Member States on a rotational basis for a non-renewable term of three years while two DSGs are openly-recruited based on merit for a three-year term which may be renewed for another three years. DSG Kung is one of the two nominated DSGs.

Click here for CV of DSG Kung.