(Profile) Seoul National University professor tapped for science minister

Choi Yang-hee, tapped as the head of the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, is one of the country's well-known experts in the information and technology industry.

Choi emphasizes the importance of converging different industries and technologies, a key idea of the creative economy, a signature policy of the Park Geun-hye administration that calls for pushing the economy forward by creating new business opportunities.

Born in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, in the country's east, the 58-year-old nominee majored in engineering at Seoul National University, continuing his study at France-based ENST to earn a doctorate.

After becoming a full-time professor of computer engineering at Seoul National University in 2000, Choi headed numerous IT-related institutions, such as the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers.

In 2010, Choi participated in former President Lee Myung-bak's government as a member of the research and development team of the so-called "knowledge economy."

Last year, Choi was named the head of the Samsung Science and Technology Foundation, a nonprofit organization under Samsung Group, which mainly focuses on research in fundamental science.

While the ministry has launched various projects to spearhead the creative economy over the past year, policy watchers say Choi's main task would be solidifying the identity of the strategy. (Yonhap)