| Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook holds an interview with The Korea Times at the Government Complex in Seoul, June 2. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul |
By Jun Ji-hye
Minister Kim Hyun-sook is Korea's 10th minister of gender equality and family, and also a tax and pension expert.
Born in 1966 in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, she earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Seoul National University, and received a doctorate in the same major from the University of Illinois.
From 2007 to 2012, she taught economics at Soongsil University in Seoul, before serving as a lawmaker for the conservative then-ruling Saenuri Party from 2012 to 2015 under the proportional representation system. The Saenuri Party is the predecessor of the current ruling People Power Party.
She served as a member of the Gender Equality and Family Committee of the National Assembly from June 2013 to May 2014 and as a spokesperson for the Saenuri Party from May 2014 to January 2015.
She also served as the senior presidential secretary for employment and welfare during the Park Geun-hye administration from 2015 to 2017, pushing legislation on labor reform.
Kim returned to teach economics at Soongsil University in 2017 before serving as a special policy adviser to then-President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol from March to May last year as part of the presidential transition committee.