Park Jie-won(; born 5 June 1942) is a South Korean politician who served as Director of the National Intelligence Service. He was the chief presidential secretary to President

Kim Dae-jung Kim Dae-jung (; ; 6 January 192418 August 2009), was a South Korea, South Korean politician and activist who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. He was a 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient for his work for democra ...

, and served as the Minister of

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is a central government agency responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and ...

and coined the term "

Esports Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, individually or as teams. Although orga ...

" during his administration. On 9 April 2008, he was elected as a member of 18th

National Assembly of South Korea The National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, often shortened to the National Assembly in domestic English-language media, is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. T ...

for

Mokpo Mokpo (; ''Mokpo-si'') is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea, located at the southwestern tip of the Korean Peninsula, close to Yudal mountain. Mokpo has frequent high-speed train services to Seoul, and is the terminus for a number of fe ...

as an independent. After being elected, he returned to the

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 ...

. In May 2012, he became the floor leader for the

Democratic United Party The Democratic Party (; DP), formerly the Democratic United Party (; DUP) until 2013, was a liberal political party in South Korea, and for the duration of its existence the country's main opposition force. On 15 December 2011, the Democrati ...

. In 2018, he declared that he would leave People's Party and joined to the

Party for Democracy and Peace A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

Early life and education

Park Jie-won attended Moontae High School in

and graduated in 1960. Park studied business in

Dankook University Dankook University (commonly referred to as Dankook), abbreviated as DU or DKU, is a prestigious private research university in Yongin and Cheonan, South Korea. The university was established in 1947. It was the first university established after ...

and graduated in 1969. Park joined Lucky Goldstar (now LG) in 1970.

Life in the United States

Park Jie-won immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 1972, and became popular among the

expat An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...

Korean community. He was elected to become the 16th President of the

Korean American Korean Americans are Americans of Korean ancestry (mostly from South Korea). In 2015, the Korean-American community constituted about 0.56% of the United States population, or about 1.82 million people, and was the fifth-largest Asian Americans ...

Association of Greater New York and subsequently became the 4th President of the Federation of Korean Associations, USA.

Scandal

Park Jie-won was charged with abusing his power and violating domestic laws on foreign exchange trade and inter-Korean cooperation affairs while orchestrating covert money transfers by

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

to North Korea. He played a pivotal role in arranging the first

Inter-Korean summit Inter-Korean summits are meetings between the leaders of North and South Korea. To date, there have been five such meetings so far (2000, 2007, April 2018, May 2018, and September 2018), three of them being in Pyongyang, with another two in ...

between South and North Korean leader in June 2000. Hyundai transferred $500 million to the North just months before the summit, triggering criticism that S.Korean Government paid for the summit.

claimed the money was a payment for exclusive business rights in electric power facilities, communication lines, an industrial park, cross-border roads and railway lines in North Korea. In May 2006, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Park was released in February 2007, and subsequently pardoned in December 2007, which enabled him to run for a legislative election in April 2008. He was defeated in the 2020 election and lost his seat.

Director of the National Intelligence Service

On 3 July 2020, Park was nominated the Director of the National Intelligence Service. He was finally appointed to the position on 28 July. In December 2020, the Moon administration subsequently passed a reform bill to remove the NIS's involvement in domestic intelligence and activities and transferring of such powers to the

National Police Agency National Police may refer to the national police forces of several countries: *Afghanistan: Afghan National Police *Haiti: Haitian National Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: Cuban National Police *East Timor: National Police of E ...

. Park, on behalf of the NIS, proclaimed that the agency would never meddle in domestic politics again.NIS chief vows never to meddle in domestic politics

Yonhap News Yonhap News Agency is a major South Korean news agency. It is based in Seoul, South Korea. Yonhap provides news articles, pictures and other information to newspapers, TV networks and other media in South Korea. History Yonhap (, , translit. ' ...

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Jie-won 1942 births Minjoo Party of Korea politicians Living people Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) South Korean Roman Catholics People from South Jeolla Province Dankook University alumni Government ministers of South Korea People's Party (South Korea, 2016) politicians South Korean politicians with disabilities Directors of the National Intelligence Service (South Korea) Chiefs of Staff to the President of South Korea

Early life and education

Life in the United States

Scandal

Director of the National Intelligence Service

See also

References