Korail CEO publishes his second memoir

By Do Je-hae

It seemed like an unlikely match when former National Police Agency chief Huh Joon-young was named chief executive officer of the Korea Rail Corporation (Korail) in March 2009.

He was a career policeman. The 59-year-old entered public service thorough a state examination for diplomats. But he left the diplomatic service only after four years to pursue his dream — to serve the country by being a policeman.

After almost three years at the nation’s biggest rail corporation, Huh has published a memoir “Huh Joon-Young’s Rail Story” about how he has tried to settle into his new job.

This is a useful read for anyone interested in how Korea became a rail power, as it is the latest book on Korail’s history, challenges and development told by its current CEO.

Korea is one of a handful of countries in the world — after Japan, France and Germany — that has the capacity to build and operate a 350km/h high-speed train system.

The book is more of a sequel to his first memoir “Huh Joon-Young’s Police Story” that was published in 2007.

In his latest memoir, he looks back at the work ethics and principles of his 26 years in the police force and talks about the adjustments he made to lead Korail, an organization with 30,000 employees.

Parts of the book relate to the hard times of his tenure, particularly owing to the labor issues at Korail and the mounting safety concerns of the upgraded version of the high-speed KTX trains.

But his leadership is being recognized in international rail circles.

Huh serves as the chairman of the Asian Regional Assembly at the Paris-based International Union of Railway (UIC). Founded in 1922, the international rail transport industry body is commonly referred to as the UIC after its French name, “Union Internationale des Chemins de Fer.” It currently has a membership of 199 countries, across five continents with Korea being one of its active members.

In September he received a leadership award from the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI), a leading international association dedicated to improving productivity and performance in the workplace.