By Yi Whan-woo





Oh Joon

Oh Joon, Korea's ambassador and a permanent representative to the United Nations together with five other U.N. ambassadors will release a rock album, Thurday, sources said Wednesday.

It said the six ambassadors worked on producing a collection of songs after forming an amateur rock band called "UNRocks" in August 2014 in New York.

The band members include Simona-Mirela Miculescu of Romania, Ib Petersen of Denmark, Milan Milanovic of Sebia, Virachai Plasai of Thailand and Mahe Uli'uli Sandhurst Tupouniua of Tonga.

The sources added that the album, titled "Strong UN Better World," will be released to mark the 70th anniversary of the U.N. this year.

The album will have two songs ― "Strong UN Better World" and "Rockin all over the world." The title track is composed by Emmy Award-winning composer Gary Fry.

Oh plays drum. His drum skills are "at a notable level," according to an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"I've been told Oh has many talents and is a versatile drummer as an amateur musician," the official said on condition of anonymity.

Miculescu, Petersen, Milanovic and Plasai are all vocalists, with Miculescu being the lead singer.

Milanovic and Plasai also play guitar. Tupouniua plays keyboards.

"I don't how Oh came up with an idea of releasing an album with others. But I heard he is a very outgoing person and has many friends in New York," the ministry official said.

Oh, a career diplomat, has been heading the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and also the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

He was named to serve as the ECOSOC president since July for a one-year term.

ECOSOC is one of the six major U.N bodies including the General Assembly, Security Council, Trusteeship Council, Secretariat and International Court of Justice.

A representative from the world's five continents ― Asia, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Americas and Africa ― gets a turn to serve as the ECOSOC chief in rotation.

The 54-state ECOSOC is in charge of coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations in the economic, social and environmental sectors.

Prior to this position, he was the Korean ambassador to Singapore from 2010 to 2013 and the deputy minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs from 2008 to 2010.