SEOUL– Ahn Duk-geun, a professor at Seoul National University (SNU), was tapped as South Korea’s new trade minister Monday and is expected to use his knowledge in trade policy for the new government’s mission to diversify the country’s trade portfolio and to boost international cooperation.
The 53-year-old earned his bachelor’s degree in international economics at SNU in 1990 and earned a doctoral degree at Michigan State University in 1996.
Between 2000 and 2005, he served as a professor at the state-run Korea Development Institute’s School of Public Policy and Management, and led the school’s information technology center, as well as its trade strategy center.
Since 2005, Ahn has served as a professor at SNU’s Graduate School of International Studies.
As an expert in the field of international trade and commerce, he had served as an adviser to the foreign ministry and the industry ministry.
Lee also headed the strategic forum for the Trans-Pacific Partnership framework under the industry ministry from 2015-16 and has served as a non-executive director of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency since 2018.
As the first trade minister of the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol government, Ahn is tasked with figuring out how to further boost the country’s exports, a key growth engine, and beef up international cooperation amid tight supply chains and other economic challenges.
His nomination does not require a parliamentary confirmation.
Source: Yonhap News Agency