Choi Hwiyoung, CEO of NOL Universe, who has been nominated as the first Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism under the Lee Jaemyung administration, has built a career spanning various fields, including media, portal sites, and travel platforms. Given that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism oversees a wide range of duties, including culture, sports, tourism, and government public relations, Choi's diverse experience is seen as the background for his nomination as minister.
On the afternoon of July 11, Kang Hoonshik, Chief Presidential Secretary, announced in a briefing that President Lee Jaemyung had nominated Choi Hwiyoung as the candidate for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Choi was born in 1964 in Busan and spent his school years in Seoul. He graduated from Kyungseong High School and majored in English Language and Literature at Sogang University. Starting in 1991, he worked as a journalist at Yonhap News Agency and YTN, then moved to Yahoo Korea in 2000, where he built his career in the portal industry. In 2002, he joined NHN, serving as Head of Planning for the Naver Division, and from 2005, he served as CEO of Naver for four years.
In 2016, Choi founded Triple, a hyper-personalized travel platform. Later, when Yanolja acquired both Triple and Interpark, he became CEO of Interpark Triple, which was formed through the merger. In December 2024, following the merger of Yanolja and Interpark Triple, he became CEO of NOL Universe, a comprehensive leisure, travel, and culture platform, and was nominated as minister while serving in this role.
Kang Hoonshik described Choi Hwiyoung as "someone with experience in various fields, including journalism, as CEO of an online portal, and as a travel platform founder," and introduced him as "a new CEO in the cultural, sports, and tourism sector who will realize the president's vision of opening the era of a 300 trillion won K-culture market, based on private sector expertise and innovation." He added, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism oversees not only culture, sports, and tourism, but also public relations and media response for the government. Platform business requires a broad understanding of all these areas, and at the same time, the cultural industry must be developed, which is why we used the term CEO."
Regarding the delay in nominating the minister, Kang explained, "It took some time as we conducted a comprehensive evaluation of various candidates."
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