In recent years Israel has pivoted noticeably to Asia, with fast-growing economic and security ties with countries like India and South Korea, and a complicated relationship with the ambitious Chinese superpower.

As part of our focus on the challenges and policy choices of Israel’s leaders, the Begin Center is hosting conversations with experts and Israeli diplomats to examine this significant trend in foreign policy.

For this third session of the series, we will be discussing the growing ties with South Korea, with an economic relationship exemplified by a free trade agreement in 2019, Israel’s first with an Asian country, and a military/security relationship bolstered by the countries’ mutual need for deterrence against hostile neighbors.

We are honored to be hosting His Excellency, Akiva Tor, Ambassador of the State of Israel to South Korea.

Akiva Tor has served as Israel’s Ambassador to the Republic of Korea since November 2020.

Born in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Tor received his B.A. in analytical philosophy from Columbia University in 1985, then received his MA in Political Science and Contemporary Jewish Thought from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 2003.

He moved to Israel at age 24, and served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces from 1985 to 1987, serving in the reserves until 2008, reaching the rank of infantry captain.

He began his diplomatic career as Director of Israel’s Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei in 1996. He then served as Deputy-Spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, (1998 – 2000); Deputy Director of the Department for Palestinian Affairs (2000 – 2002); and World Jewish Affairs Adviser to the President of Israel. He was Israel’s Consul General in San Francisco and Pacific Northwest (2008 – 2012), and then Head of the MFA’s Bureau for World Jewish Affairs and World Religions (2013 – 2020) before his appointment as Ambassador in Seoul.