New public servants training chief appointed

National Human Resources Development Institute President Park Chun-ran

By Park Ji-won

Park Chun-ran, a former education ministry vice minister, has been appointed president of the National Human Resources Development Institute (NHI, the presidential office announced Wednesday.

“New NHI President Park served as the first female vice minister at the Ministry of Education and has extensive experience in implementing various policies to nurture talented individuals in the field of education,” Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said.

“Based on her expertise in education and human resources development and understanding of the operation of public offices, she is expected to play a major role in fostering trustworthy and hard-working civil servants which has been demanded by the people.”

The NHI provides training programs for government officials under the Ministry of Personnel Management (MPM).

The post has been vacant since former NHI President Yang Hyang-ja resigned in July to join the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's special committee to counter Japan's economic “retaliation” against Korea following the Supreme Court's rulings ordering Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of forced wartime labor.

Park graduated from Seoul National University, and earned a master's degree in law at the University of California. She served as director general at the education ministry, vice superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and vice minister at the ministry until November 2018.