Korea welcomes U.S. pick of Kimas new World Bank chief

Korea’s presidential office and Finance Ministry welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to nominate Jim Yong Kim, the Korean-born president of Dartmouth College, as the new chief of the World Bank.

“We believe that President Kim is the right person to carry out the duties to reform the World Bank and eradicate poverty,” Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement. “We highly appreciate President Obama’s decision to nominate Kim and will cooperate more closely with the World Bank.”

Finance Minister Bahk Jae-wan, in full support of the appointment, said Kim’s diverse background across development aid and the health industry makes Kim a good fit for the top post at the international institution fighting poverty.

“We expect Kim to successfully carry out a bridge-building role connecting developing and advanced countries,” Bahk said in a statement.

Obama nominated Kim as the next chief of the World Bank on Friday, breaking the tradition of placing a white American at the top of the 187-member nation institution. The move is seen as aimed at addressing the developing world’s interests in the international lender leading infrastructure projects of a global scale.

Kim, a 52-year-old health expert, moved to the U.S. with his family when he was 5 years old. Kim graduated with an A.B. magma cum laude from Brown University in 1982. He earned his doctoral degrees from Harvard University, where he held professorships before assuming the Dartmouth presidency. He became the first Asian-American to lead an Ivy League Institution in 2009 as he began his tenure as president of Dartmouth.

Kim is expected to take over the helm of the World Bank and replace its current leader Robert Zoellick at the end of June.

By Cynthia J. Kim (cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)