President Lee Jae-myung announced on the 13th that he will appoint Choi Eun-ok as the new Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education. Vice Minister Choi led the overhaul of the college entrance exam and university innovation policies during the Moon Jae-in administration.
Vice Minister Choi, born in 1965, is from Haenam, Jeollanam-do. After graduating from Muhak Girls' High School and the Department of Mathematics Education at Korea University, she earned her master’s degree in education from the University of Wisconsin and her doctorate in education from Sungkyunkwan University. She passed the 34th Administrative Service Exam and began her public service career in 1991. She has held positions including Director of the School Policy Analysis Division at the Ministry of Education (formerly the Ministry of Education) in 2009, Planning Officer in 2010, and Director of Industry-Academic Cooperation in 2011.
Vice Minister Choi was the Director of University Policy at the Ministry of Education in 2017, when the Moon Jae-in administration took office. Former President Moon promised to transition to a relative evaluation system for the college entrance exam, and accordingly, the Ministry of Education promoted policies involving the relative evaluation system and the expansion of regular admissions.
After that, Vice Minister Choi served as the Director of Lifelong Future Education and the Director of Higher Education Policy before being promoted to the position of Director of Higher Education Policy, a first-class position, in 2020. She was responsible for promoting the 'University Innovation Support Project' initiated by the Moon Jae-in administration. This project aims to induce universities to reduce enrollment in response to the rapid decline in the school-age population.