The late anti-apartheid activist and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini has been appointed South Africa’s ambassador to South Korea, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Arriving in Korea on Oct. 2, she visited the ministry on Thursday to hold meetings with officials here.

In her previous posts, she served as the South African ambassador to Argentina for five years from 2012, and then was appointed as high commissioner in Mauritius.

“I am really happy and honored to be serving in Korea. I think that we’ve got great bilateral relations, and I’ll continue to work to strengthen them,” Dlamini told reporters as she left the ministry building.

“We’ve got great trade relations with Korea and I look forward to strengthen them during my tenure.”

She first visited the country with her father in 1995.

Before her official appointment, Zenani had a luncheon meeting with South Korea’s Ambassador to South Africa Park Jong-dae at his residence on Sept. 20.

Zenani Mandela-Dlamini is the elder of two daughters from Mandela’s second marriage, to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. After their divorce in 1996, she became the stand-in first lady until Mandela’s remarriage in 1998. 

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)