Korea Investment Corp. announced Friday that it has appointed Ahn Hong-chul, former head of Invest Korea, as its new CEO.

After passing the civil service examination in 1979, Ahn served as the assistant director of Korea Center for International Finance, senior financial specialist for the World Bank and head of Invest Korea, an arm of the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency.

Born in 1950 in Busan, Ahn studied management at Yonsei University and earned his master’s degree in administration from Seoul National University and a master’s in international business from UC San Diego.

“KIC must take a moment to look back and examine whether or not it has lost sight of its original objective,” said CEO Ahn during the inauguration ceremony on Thursday.

“We must actively participate and do more than just carry out our duties as a public institution,” he added.

He requested that all executive and staff members consider honesty and professionalism to be the most valuable traits.

(jhk@heraldcorp.com)