New Press Counsellors to London and Tokyo

Press Release /2010
7 June 2010

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs has appointed Jouni Mölsä to the post of Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in London and Mikko Koivumaa to the post of Press Counsellor at the Embassy of Finland in Tokyo.

Journalist Jouni Mölsä, MBA, takes up his post at the Finnish Embassy in London as from 15 September 2010. The term of appointment is three years.

Mölsä transfers to this position from the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, where he has been working as a journalist for political affairs since 1997, his special field being Finland’s EU policy. This period includes four months at the newspaper’s editorial office in Brussels. Mölsä also has experience as a journalist at Radio Helsinki, the weekly magazine NYT and Radio City. He was chairman of the political journalists’ association Politiikan toimittajat ry in 2000–2002.

Mölsä worked for the BBC World Service in London in 1993–1997 and before that for Helsingin Sanomat in 1991–1993 covering crime and court cases. While a student, he was chairman of the board of the Association of Economics Students in Helsinki and a member of the board of the Helsinki School of Economics.

Together with crime author Jarkko Sipilä, Mölsä has written the script for an eight-episode television series for MTV3 and short radio plays for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. His favourite type of music is rock and his preferred instrument is the drum. Mölsä has received education in classical music at the Savonlinna Music Institute, where he studied playing the cello.

Jouni Mölsä is Finland’s candidate for this year’s European Parliament Prize for Journalism in the press category.

Mikko Koivumaa takes up his post at the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo as from 15 November 2010. The term of appointment is three years.

Koivumaa holds both a Master of Arts degree and a Master of Social Sciences degree, and has specialised in research on Japan. On the basis of his work experience, he also has long-term knowledge of the Japanese culture, society and language.

Koivumaa transfers to Tokyo from Finnfacts, where he has been building Finland’s country brand and has cooperated with international media. He has previously lived and worked in Tokyo, and in Finland he has been employed by Japanese companies in ICT and the tourist industry.

Koivumaa is member of the Helsinki University Asia-Pacific Studies Network.

Additional information: Deputy Director General Piritta Asunmaa, Department for Communications and Culture, tel. +358 9 1605 5818