Kim Jinai (; born 16 February 1953), also known as Kim Jin-ae, is a South Korean urban engineer and politician.

Biography

In 1971 Kim was the only woman admitted to study at Seoul National University College of Engineering which building then only had men's bathrooms. Upon return from studying at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, Kim took several notable urban planning projects such as creating

Sanbon Sanbon New Town refers to a planned city surrounding Sanbon-dong and Geumjeong-dong of Gunpo Gunpo (군포; ), formerly romanized as Kunp'o, is a small city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province, located south of Seoul in the Seoul National Capit ...

Newtown, one of satellite cities of Seoul, and restructuring

Insa-dong Insa-dong is a ''dong'', or neighborhood in the Jongno-gu district of Seoul. The main street is Insadong-gil, which is connected to a multitude of alleys that lead deeper into the district,David Armstrong (June 3, 2007)''SEOUL lives life on the e ...

. She took numerous policy advisory roles to the government of both conservative and liberal presidents and major construction projects like Sejong City. For the 2008 general election, Kim was placed as number 17 of the proportional list for preceding party of now

Democratic Party of Korea The Democratic Party of Korea (DPK; ), formerly known as the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), is a liberal political party in South Korea. Controlling the unicameral National Assembly as of 2022, the DPK is regarded as one of two m ...

but failed to be elected. However, after one of the members elected via proportional list resigned, she finally became a lawmaker in November 2009. Highlighting the problems of " Four Major River project" of Lee Myung-bak administration is her best known work as a parliamentarian to the public. For the 2012 general election, Kim applied to earn Democratic Party's nomination for

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

Mapo MAPO - the Moscow Aircraft Production Association (russian: Московское авиационное производственное объединение, Moskovskoye aviatsionnoye proizvodstvennoye obyedineniye) was a major Russian state-owne ...

A constituency but lost to Noh Woong-rae. For the 2020 general election, Kim was placed as the top of the list of newly created party's proportional representation list. Kim assumed the floor leadership as she is the only lawmaker of her party who has served more than once. In December 2020, Kim announced her candidacy for Seoul Mayor in the upcoming

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in April 2021. On 8 March 2021 Kim submitted her resignation as a member of the National Assembly to focus on her campaign as mayor of the capital of the country. After their agreed poll found Park Young-sun of

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

more fit for office, Kim and her party endorsed Park for the post. Following Kim's resignation, a former spokesperson of President

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

, Kim Eui-kyeom will succeed her seat at the parliament on 24 March 2021. Kim was previously a visiting professor of architecture at

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational inst ...

and an adjunct professor at

KAIST The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) is a national research university located in Daedeok Innopolis, Daejeon, South Korea. KAIST was established by the Korean government in 1971 as the nation's first public, resear ...

. Kim holds three degrees in architecture - a bachelor's degree from Seoul National University, a master's from

and a doctorate in

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

from MIT. She graduated from

Ewha Girls' High School Ewha Girls' High School ( ko, 이화여자고등학교) is a private girls high school located in Jeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea. Although managed by the same foundation, it is not to be confused with the coeducational Ewha Womans Unive ...

Electoral history

Awards

Order of Civil Merit The Order of Civil Merit ( es, Orden del Mérito Civil) was established by King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1926. The order recognizes "the civic virtue of officers in the service of the Nation, as well as extraordinary service by Spanish and fore ...

by the government of South Korea (1998) *

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

's Global 100 Roster of Young Leaders for the New Millennium (1994)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Jinai Living people 1953 births People from Siheung Politicians from Gyeonggi Province Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni Seoul National University alumni Academic staff of Ewha Womans University Academic staff of KAIST Women urban planners South Korean women engineers Democratic Party of Korea politicians Uri Party politicians Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) South Korean women academics South Korean architects