President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday formally appointed Kwon Goo-hoon, a senior economist at the global investment firm Goldman Sachs, to head the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation.
Kwon, 56, replaced Rep. Song Young-gil of the ruling Democratic Party as chairman of the committee that was formed to reinforce economic and other forms of cooperation with the northern region, including Eurasia.
(Yonhap)
A graduate of Seoul National University, Kwon earned his Ph.D from Harvard University. He worked at the London office of ABN AMRO Bank and as deputy chief of the Moscow office of the International Monetary Fund.
He joined Goldman Sachs in 2007 after working as a senior IMF economist.
Presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said at a briefing that Moon personally picked Kwon as he was impressed by a lecture Kwon gave on TV. Moon also read a book about his lecture during the summer vacation, the spokesman said.
Kwon also said during the briefing that he will take advantage of his experiences with the IMF and Goldman Sachs to carry out his duties. (Yonhap)
