NongHyup shortlists final candidates for 3 new outside directors

From left are Seo Eun-sook, Lee Soon-ho and Ha Kyung-ja, all candidates for NongHyup Financial Group's new outside directors. Courtesy of Seo, Lee, Ha

By Yi Whan-woo

NongHyup Financial Group has shortlisted candidates for its three new outside directors, the banking group announced Monday.

The candidates are Sangmyung University economics professor Seo Eun-sook, Korea Institute of Finance (KIF) director Lee Soon-ho and Pusan National University climate science professor Ha Kyung-ja.

They were shortlisted by the group's executive recommendation committee from an undisclosed number of people.

Their appointment will require an approval decision during a shareholders' meeting scheduled on Thursday. If approved, they can begin their two-year term, Friday.

Seo served as a researcher and advisor at multiple institutions in both private and public sectors after starting her career as a researcher at Bank of Korea's (BOK) Economic Research Institute in 2004.

She mostly worked for Statistics Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) in the 2010s. She worked as an advisory board member on each presidential committee on employment as well as for the Ministry of Economy and Finance on financial policy. She later worked for Korea Investment Corp. and Korea Credit Guarantee Fund before becoming a Sangmyung University economics professor in 2007. She worked as coordinating director of the university from 2017 to 2020.

“Seo is regarded an expert with an extensive knowledge in macro-economy and finance,” NongHyup Financial Group said in a statement.

Lee mainly built his career at KIF, which he joined in 2006. He led research units on financial consumer services in 2018 and digital banking in 2020, respectively, and was appointed as the director on a banking and insurance issue-related division this year.

Lee was away from the KIF for a while, during which, he worked for the Fair Trade Commission, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Korea Federation of Banks (KFB).

He concurrently is a member of the FSC's committee on regulatory overhaul, the KFB's committee on consumer protection and Korea Credit Information Services' advisory panel on big data.

A Busan native, Ha has been teaching climate science at Pusan National University since 2006 as well as leading a research lab on climate change at the school since 2016.

She is concurrently the chairperson of the Korean Meteorological Society.

Ha worked as an advisor as well as a member of multiple organizations on climate change in and outside Korea throughout her career, including the World Meteorological Organization, APEC Climate Center, Busan National Science Museum and the Institute for Basic Science.