The Human Resources Development Service of Korea (HRD Korea) said Tuesday it had appointed Lee Byoung-hoon, a former Chung-Ang University professor, as its new chairman. The service, an agency under the Ministry of Employment and Labor, is a public institution aimed at supporting workers' vocational skills development and strengthening companies' human resource competitiveness.
Lee is regarded as an expert in employment and labor policy. He graduated from the sociology department of Seoul National University and earned master's and doctoral degrees in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University. He taught as a professor in the sociology department at Chung-Ang University from March 2000 to August 2023, and has continued various activities in the employment and labor field, including serving as chairman of the Public Solidarity Foundation, chairman of the Platform Labor Social Dialogue Forum, and chairman of the Public Institutions Committee of the Economic, Social and Labor Council.
"With his experience in drawing out policy consensus on labor and social policy issues, [Lee] is expected to successfully innovate the service's operations as well," the service said.
Lee is expected to focus on strengthening the national professional qualification examinations, a core task of the service, and stabilizing the selection of foreign workers under the Employment Permit System. The service has faced issues with inadequate question-setting and grading in some qualification examinations. "Raising public awareness and trust in human resource development (HRD) services is more important than anything else," Lee said. "By increasing public access to and use of HRD services, I will effectively respond to the risks of job replacement and disappearance."
