President Park Geun-hye's pick for the next culture minister is a veteran TV reporter with nearly 30 years of work experience in major broadcasting companies such as KBS and SBS.

Chung Sung-keun, 59, became well known when he worked as an anchor on various SBS news programs. The nominee, in particular, gained much attention from viewers when he was an anchor of the channel's nighttime news program, "Nightline" for his impressive closing comments often critical of the government.

In 2012, he ran for a parliamentary seat in Paju, just north of Seoul, as a candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party but lost to a candidate from the main opposition Democratic Party, the predecessor of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy.

The same year, he worked as a public relations official at President Park's election camp and contributed to her victory. For this reason, his name has constantly been mentioned for such positions as a presidential spokesman and the chief presidential press secretary.

He has been working as president and CEO of the government-affiliated English-language television channel, Arirang TV, since March. (Yonhap)