By Kwon Mee-yoo
Chung Hyung-min, professor of art history at Seoul National University and director of the Seoul National University Museum of Art, was named as the new director of the National Museum of Contemporary Art (NMOCA), Thursday.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism appointed Chung to the position with a two-year term. This is first time for a woman to lead the national art museum since its opening in 1969. The position had been vacant since former director Bae Soon-hun resigned from office last November.
Chung said she would focus on the successful opening of the UUL National Art Museum Seoul, scheduled for 2013.
She received her bachelor's degree from Wellesley College majoring in European art history, a master's degree in art history from the University of Michigan and a doctoral degree from Columbia University in art history with a dissertation on Joseon Dynasty painting.
She was a Seoul National University professor from 1994 and led the university’s art museum from 2006. She served as director of art galleries at the Seoul Arts Center from 1999 to 2001 and president of the Korea Society of Art Theories.