About Martin

My name is Martin Uden and I became the UK’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea in February 2008. This is my third posting to Seoul: I also served here as Second Secretary from 1978 to 1981, and as Political Counsellor from 1994 to 1997.

I studied Law at Queen Mary College in London University and was called to the Bar in 1977. I chose to join the Diplomatic Service shortly afterwards and studied Korean for two years during my first posting here in 1978. Since then, I have been responsible at different times for nuclear non-proliferation, Japan, Yugoslavia and Albania and for the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE). I also served in the UK Trade and Investment Headquarters in London as International Director of the inward investment operation. Apart from postings in Seoul, I have also served in Bonn, Ottawa and, most recently, as Consul-General in San Francisco.

I am married to Fiona, whom I met in Korea in 1981, and we have two sons who were both born in Bonn and are now studying in London. After I left Korea in 1981, I started to collect old foreign-language books about Korea and now have one of the largest private collections. I used them to write a book, based on these travellers’ accounts of old Korea, called “Times Past in Korea.” It was published first in 2003 and is shortly to appear in paperback.