Simon John Meredith Smith (born 14 January 1958) is a

British diplomat His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which d ...

, most recently the ambassador (now retired) to the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its east ...

(South Korea).

Early life

Smith attended the Triple C School in Grand Cayman, then

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

. From

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

, he gained a BA in Modern Languages in 1980.

Career

From 1981 to 1986 Smith worked at the Department of Employment. He joined Her Majesty's Diplomatic Service in 1986 and has held positions in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and as Counsellor (Economic/Commercial) in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

1998–2002.

Ambassador

From 2007 to 2012 Smith served as Ambassador to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and as the UK's representative to many UN and international organisations in Vienna, including as the UK's Governor on the Board of the

International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...

. His transfer to

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

as Ambassador to

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

was announced on 13 October 2011 and he took up the appointment in 2012. He was replaced in 2015. After a brief spell in London and Korean language training, he was appointed Ambassador to South Korea and took up the post in March 2018.

Personal life

Smith married Sian Stickings in 1984. She was appointed

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

"for services to the local and British communities in Russia" in the

2003 New Year Honours The 2003 New Year's Honours List is one of the annual New Year Honours, a part of the British monarch's honours system, where 1 January is marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of ot ...

, following Smith's service in Moscow. They have two daughters.

References

SMITH, Simon John Meredith
Who's Who 2012, A & C Black, 2012; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2011, accessed 27 Aug 2012

Video clips

IAEA in September 2010

Green roof on the embassy in June 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Simon 1958 births Living people People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Austria Permanent Representatives of the United Kingdom to the United Nations Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Ukraine Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to South Korea Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George