Ivan Korčok (born 4 April 1964 ) is a Slovak politician and retired executive diplomat who was Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia from 2020 to 2022 as an independent nominee of the

Freedom and Solidarity Freedom and Solidarity (, SaS), also called Saska, is a Centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Slovakia. Established in 2009,. SaS was founded by economist Richard Sulík, who designed Slovakia's flat tax system. It generally hol ...

political party. A graduate of the

University of Economics in Bratislava The Bratislava University of Economics and Business () is the oldest university of economics in Slovakia. History The university was established in 1940 as a private university under the name Vysoká obchodná škola v Bratislave (College of Co ...

and the Institute of International Relations at Comenius University, Korčok served as a career diplomat at various ranks from 1992 to 2020. In August 2023, Korčok announced his candidacy in the 2024 Slovak presidential election. Korcok placed first in the preliminary round with 42% of the votes ahead of second-place finisher

Peter Pellegrini Peter Pellegrini (; born 6 October 1975) is a Slovak politician who is serving as the sixth president of Slovakia since 2024. He previously served as prime minister of Slovakia from 2018 to 2020. Pellegrini also served as the Minister of Health, ...

who received 37%. However, Korcok lost the runoff receiving 47% of the vote to Pellegrini's 53%.

Early life

From 1983 to 1987, Korčok studied at the

, and subsequently undertook postgraduate studies at the Institute of International Relations of Comenius University in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

from 1991 to 1995.

Diplomatic career (1992–2020)

In 1992, Korčok began working at the Ministry of International Relations of the Slovakia, and from 1993 to 1996 was the secretary of the Slovak embassy in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. From 1996 to 1997 he was the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and worked in the Analysis and Planning Department from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 1999, he worked as a counselor and

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

at the Slovak embassy in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Between 1999 and 2001, he was the Deputy Ambassador of the Permanent Mission to

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Between 2001 and 2005, he worked again at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as director general of the Section of International Organizations and Security Policy, later state secretary. He was a member of the European Convention between 2002 and 2003. Korčok served as the Slovak Ambassador to

between 2005 and 2009. Subsequently, from 2009 to 2015, he was the permanent representative of Slovakia to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and was then the representative of the government in the

Council of the EU The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and less formally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

until 2017. Between 2015 and 2018, he was again the State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs. In August 2018, he was appointed Slovak ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

by President

Andrej Kiska Andrej Kiska (; born 2 February 1963) is a Slovak politician, entrepreneur, writer and philanthropist who served as the fourth president of Slovakia from 2014 to 2019. He ran as an Independent politician, independent candidate in the 2014 Slova ...

. After Korčok handed over his credentials to US President Donald Trump in September, he became the seventh Slovak ambassador to the United States.

Political career (2020–''present'')

Following the 2020 parliamentary elections, Korčok was nominated by the

party to be Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. On the day of the appointment of the Matovič government on 21 March 2020, Korčok could not travel out of the United States due to restrictions on air travel due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On his return to Slovakia, he underwent a 14-day quarantine, while Deputy Prime Minister Richard Sulík was entrusted with the management of the Foreign Ministry. Korčok was officially appointed as a member of the government on April 8. Korčok served as the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the Cabinet of Igor Matovič from April 2020 until the collapse of the government in late March 2021. One week later, he was appointed back to the position in the new Cabinet of Eduard Heger. He resigned in September 2022 alongside other ministers nominated by the Freedom and Solidarity party due to major disagreements with Igor Matovič, the party leader of OĽANO, the largest coalition party. Following President Zuzana Čaputová's announcement that she would not run for reelection, Korčok was cited by the media as potential candidate to replace her in the 2024 presidential election. When asked in June 2023, Korčok stated that he was considering running for the position. He officially announced his candidacy in August 2023, with polling at that time estimating between 30% and 35% of the vote in the first round. Running as an independent candidate, the political parties

Progressive Slovakia Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...

Christian Democratic Movement The Christian Democratic Movement (, KDH) is a Christian democratic political party in Slovakia that is a member of the European People's Party (EPP) and an observer of the Centrist Democrat International The Centrist Democrat International ...

and the non-parliamentary Democrats endorsed his candidacy. In the first round on 23 March, Korčok achieved 42.51% and advancing to a runoff against former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

. On 6 April 2024, in the second round, Korčok with 46.88% lost to Pellegrini with 53.12%.

Personal life

Korčok is married to his wife, Soňa, with whom he has two sons.

Honours and Awards

*2018: Czech and Slovak Transatlantic Award

References

External links

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Korcok, Ivan Living people Politicians from Banská Bystrica 1964 births 20th-century Slovak politicians 21st-century Slovak politicians Slovak Lutherans Ambassadors of Slovakia to Germany Ambassadors of Slovakia to the United States Permanent representatives of Slovakia to the European Union Comenius University alumni Foreign ministers of Slovakia Candidates for President of Slovakia