[Profile] Education Minister Nominee Lee Jin Sook... First Female President of a National University

Lee Jin Sook, 65, former president of Chungnam National University, was nominated on June 29 as the first Minister of Education candidate under the Lee Jae Myung administration. She is known as the first woman to serve as president of a national university in Korea.

President Lee Jae Myung nominates Lee Jin Sook as Minister of Education candidate Yonhap News

She spent her entire academic career?from elementary school through university?in Daejeon, and has been recognized as an expert who understands the realities faced by universities outside the Seoul metropolitan area, having served as a professor at a regional national university.

In 2020, she was nominated as president of Chungnam National University, drawing attention as the first woman to lead a flagship national university.

Born in Daejeon in 1960, Lee graduated from Daejeon Girls' High School, earned both her bachelor's and master's degrees from Chungnam National University, and obtained her doctorate from the Tokyo Institute of Technology. She holds a secondary school teaching certificate and, at the time, had the rare distinction of being a woman with an engineering background.

During the last presidential election, she served as the chair of the "Initiative to Establish 10 Seoul National Universities" under the Democratic Party of Korea's Central Election Committee. She is expected to focus on the government's "policy to resolve educational inequality." Lee has consistently emphasized the need to reform the education system to address the concentration of educational opportunities in the Seoul metropolitan area and to foster future talent.

▲ Daejeon (born 1960) ▲ Bachelor’s in Architectural Engineering Education, Chungnam National University ▲ Master’s in Architectural Planning, Chungnam National University ▲ Doctorate in Architectural Environmental Planning, Tokyo Institute of Technology ▲ Professor, Department of Architectural Engineering, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University ▲ Dean, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University ▲ Member, Presidential National Architecture Policy Committee ▲ Dean, College of Engineering, Chungnam National University ▲ President, Chungnam National University ▲ Chair, Initiative to Establish 10 Seoul National Universities, Democratic Party of Korea Central Election Committee