Background of nomination of Choi Hwi-young, a multiplayer former representative of Naver, for Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism
Jul 11, 2025
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On the 11th, President Lee Jae-myung nominated Choi Hwi-young as a candidate for the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Kim Yoon-deok (National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee) as a candidate for the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Born in Busan in 1964, Choi graduated from Kyungsung High School and Sogang University in English and Literature, worked as a reporter for Yonhap News and Ytn between 1991 and 2000, and established a portal news service at Yahoo Korea in 2000, the early days of the Internet era, moved to NHN, the predecessor of Naver, and became the CEO after serving as the planning director and director of Naver Headquarters, leading Naver's growth. He founded a travel platform company called 'Triple' in 2016 and surpassed 5.5 million cumulative subscribers in two and a half years. He was selected as a candidate for the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism while serving as the CEO of Nol Universe, which merged 'Yanolja' and 'Interpark Triple' at the end of last year after integrating with Interpark in 2022.
While the nomination of 17 ministries was over, questions were mounting as only the appointment of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport continued to be delayed. President Lee's choice in looking for a multiplayer that will lead the K-culture, tourism and industry in general during the era of a K-cultural powerhouse was Choi Hui-young, who had a multi-career penetrating media, content, tourism and leisure. While running the nation's largest portal Naver, it is said that it has a high understanding of various contents such as movies and games as well as media through sponsorship of the Busan Film Festival and various collaborations with local, cultural, and sports organizations.
Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said, `Candidate Choi has experience and experience in various fields, including reporters, online portal representatives, and travel platform founders"New CEO of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism who will make the president's idea of opening the Article 300 of the K-culture market a reality based on expertise and novelty from the private sector"Candidate Choi is the third person from Naver chosen by the Lee Jae-myung administration after AI Future Planning Senior Secretary to the Presidential Office of Jungwoo Ha and Seong Sook Han Minister of SMEs and Startups who was the first female representative of Naver.
Meanwhile, not only the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism but also the culture, and tourism industries seem to be surprised by the news of Choi Hwi-young's surprise nomination, which did not go up and down until this morning. An official said "Everyone was surprised to see the news because it was dominated by hippocampus comments from lawmakers, cultural figures, and bureaucrats. "Unexpected personnel" "It seems that they have chosen a fresh civilian figure who was an IT manager with multiplayer across K-culture, tourism, content, and industry", he commented.
Along with the nomination of a candidate for the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the appointment of the 1-2 Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism is drawing attention. In particular, the sports community is paying keen attention to the appointment of the second vice minister who will be in charge of sports and tourism policies. As the ministerial candidate is an expert in content, culture, and tourism, he is looking forward to the entry of a capable specialist who will fill the expertise of sports policy with the second vice minister.
Reporter Jeon Young-ji sky4us@sportschosun.com
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
