Park Jong-gil, named by President Park Geun-hye to be vice minister of culture, sports and tourism on Wednesday, is a former national team shooter who has won gold in the Asian Games.

The 67-year-old director of the Taeneung National Training Center of the Korean Olympic Committee is also the first former national shooting athlete to be nominated to the government post.

The late Kim Jip, former director of the training center in the 1980s, was appointed as sports minister by then President Roh Tae-woo, but he was not a national athlete.

The vice minister nominee won the gold medal in rapid fire pistol in three successive Asian Games ― the 1978 Bangkok, the 1982 New Delhi and the 1986 Seoul Asian Games. Later, he served the national shooting team as head coach. He also worked as vice president of the Korea Shooting Federation and sat on the board of the Korean Olympic Committee.

He has been director of the Taeneung National Training Center since January 2011.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)