He served in the Swedish foreign service for 30 years, as ambassador in Vietnam (1972–1974), in Thailand, Laos and Singapore (1976–1981), in Algeria (1982–1987) and in Poland (1987–1991).
[1] His father, Nils Konrad Öberg (1896–1974) came from a poor family in Nordingrå, Västernorrland County, Sweden, and emigrated to France and eventually became vice consul at the Swedish embassy in Paris.
[2] During World War II, his parents helped Jews flee the Vichy government and its deportation measures.
[1] Öberg became an attaché at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Stockholm in 1961 and then served in Jakarta, Manila and Kuala Lumpur from 1962 to 1963.
He then became a fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University in the United States from 1981 to 1982 when he was appointed ambassador in Algiers.