Ko Gyoung-bin graduated from Seoul National University in 1980 and earned an MA in international relations in 1993 from Durham University in England. Ko worked at the Ministry of Unification between 1986 and 2009, serving as head of the social and cultural exchange bureau (2004), head of the Kaesong Industrial Complex business support team (2006), acting chief of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Headquarters (2007), chief of the policy and public relations headquarters (2007), and head of the settlement support office for North Korean defectors (2008).
Between 2008 and 2011, Ko was a visiting lecturer at Ajou University and Ewha Womans University and a collegiate professor at Seoul Cyber University. From 2011 to 2013, he served as chairman of the South/North Korea Exchange and Cooperation Support Association. Since 2014, he has been a director at the Peace Foundation. During his time at the Ministry of Unification, Ko attended as a South Korean delegation member for the inter-Korean Red Cross talks of 2000, the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Committee in 2006, an inter-Korean ministerial summit in 2007, and the Joint Committee for a West Sea Peace and Cooperation Zone in 2007.