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 Korean politician, activist and statesman who served as the eighth president of South Korea from 1998 to 2003. Kim entered politics as a member of the new wing of the Democratic Pa ...

, and served as the Minister of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism 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, played individually or as teams. ...

" 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 () is the unicameral national legislature of South Korea. Elections to the National Assembly are held every four years. The latest legislative elections were held on 10 April 2024. The current Na ...

for

Mokpo Mokpo (; ) is the List of cities in South Korea, third largest and most densely populated 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 ...

as an independent. After being elected, he returned to the Democratic party. In May 2012, he became the floor leader for the Democratic United Party. In 2018, he declared that he would leave People's Party and joined to the Party for Democracy and Peace.

Early life and education

Park Jie-won attended Moontae High School in

and graduated in 1960. Park studied business in Dankook University 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 1972, and became popular among the

expat An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. The term often refers to a professional, skilled worker, or student from an affluent country. However, it may also refer to retirees, artists and ...

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

Korean American Korean Americans () are Americans of full or partial Korean ethnic descent. While the broader term Overseas Korean in America () may refer to all ethnic Koreans residing in the United States, the specific designation of Korean American impli ...

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 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 Korea, North and South Korea. To date, there have been five such meetings so far (2000 inter-Korean summit, 2000, 2007 inter-Korean summit, 2007, April 2018 inter-Korean summit, Apr ...

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. Hyundai 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 *Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police *Colombia: National Police of Colombia *Cuba: National Revolut ...

. 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 Agency Yonhap News Agency (; ) is a major news agency in South Korea. 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 was esta ...

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Park, Jie-won 1942 births Democratic Party of Korea politicians Living people Members of the National Assembly (South Korea) South Korean Roman Catholics Politicians from South Jeolla Province People from Jindo County 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