Park Jin to lead Oxbridge Society
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Park Jin, right, newly elected president of the Oxbridge Society, holds hands with Kim Dong-gun, left, Park’s predecessor, and Charles Hay, British ambassador to Korea, during the society’s annual reception at the Ambassador Hotel in central Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of Oxbridge Society
By Park Si-soo
Park Jin, a former three-term lawmaker and incumbent chair professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, was elected as president of the Oxbridge Society, an integrated alumni association in Korea for graduates from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
Park, who earned a PhD in political science from Oxford in 1993, was elected unanimously during the society’s annual reception at the Ambassador Hotel in central Seoul, Friday.
The integrated association was established in August last year with inaugural president Kim Dong-gun, a Cambridge graduate who currently represents Barun, a law firm. Park is his successor.
“It’s my honor and privilege to lead this association representing these two esteemed universities whose history spans more than 800 years,” Park said during his acceptance speech. “I will make strong efforts to harmonize graduates of the two institutions. My primary role will be to tighten the unity of association members and then extend help to unprivileged people around us.”
The 59-year-old said he will be committed to exploring “advanced political and economic systems of the United Kingdom,” which he said will contribute to finding ways to bolster competitiveness of Korean society and the economy.
Park also serves as chairman of the Korea-Britain Society, an association established in 1961 to foster friendship between the two countries.
Born in Seoul in 1956, Park earned a bachelor’s degree in law from Seoul National University. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard and a PhD in political science from Oxford.
He started working as a career diplomat in the late 1970s. He later joined the political world as an elected lawmaker representing Jongno, a constituency in central Seoul, in 2002.
He was reelected from the same district twice in a row ― in 2004 and 2008 ― but failed to be reelected in 2012. While in office, he assumed various decision-making positions with the conservative ruling camp. He recently declared his bid for the upcoming parliamentary elections in April next year.