Former IT minister appointed as cable TV agency chief

Kim Dong-soo

By Yoon Sung-won

Former vice minister of information and communication Kim Dong-soo has been inaugurated as head of Korea Digital Cable Laboratories (KLabs).

Starting from Monday, Kim will head the research and development agency for two years, replacing Kim Chang-gon, who also was a former vice minister of the same ministry.

“The cable industry expects that Kim, who has played a key role in establishing plans to foster the nation’s IT industry, will lead KLabs as the headquarters of cable services research and development here,” said a representative of the organization.

Kim, 59, was born in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, and passed the Highest Civil Service and Public Administration Examination in 1979. Before joining the Ministry of Information and Communication, now the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, he headed the Chungju Post Office in 1990.

In 2006, he acquired a doctoral degree in science of public administration at the graduate school of Hanyang University.

Kim also worked as an IT sector adviser at law firm Lee & Ko and was an outsider director at Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp. and Korea Trade Insurance Corp.

KLabs was established in 2003 as a leading technology research and standard certification agency for the nations’ 91 cable networks. The organization has worked to develop cable services and cooperated with diverse public and private organizations such as Korea Cable Television Association, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning and Korea Communications Commission through standardization and certification projects for technologies, products and services.

The agency also works to update and introduce technological regulations to build a market environment for fair competition and to enhance competitiveness of local cable service operators.