Art curator to work for foreign ministry

Sun Seung-hye

By Kang Seung-woo

A renowned Korean-Japanese art curator will assume the job of handling foreign cultural exchanges and cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

According to the ministry, Wednesday, , former director of curatorial affairs at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), has been named director of the Cultural Cooperation Division under the Cultural Affairs Bureau.

It is rare for the ministry to fill a director-level position with a non-governmental expert who has not taken the civil service examination.

After designating the position last year as being available for only seasoned applicants, MOFA began openly recruiting candidates, leading to their selection of Sun as the first non-civil servant to take the job.

“After special consideration, the ministry selected Sun to introduce a culture specialist’s competence to officialdom,” the ministry said.

Sun, 45, received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in aesthetics from Seoul National University and holds a Ph.D. in Japanese art from Tokyo University.

Before her appointment at MOFA, Sun worked for the National Museum of Korea (NMK) as the nation’s first curator specializing in Japanese art.

She also served as curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the United States, assistant professor at the Academy of East Asian Studies of Sungkyunkwan University and director of Curatorial Affairs at SeMA.

“While working as a curator in the United States, I did many things to introduce Korean culture to American society. In addition, as curator of the National Museum of Korea, I had opportunities to introduce Korean culture to major foreign museums,” Sun said.

“With such experience under my belt, I plan to take advantage of it in diplomatic scenes.”