Korean teachers' fund names ex-education minister as CEO

South Korea’s Ministry of Education has chosen Kim Sang-gon, the former deputy prime minister and education minister, as the new chief executive for the Korean Teachers' Credit Union (KTCU). 

Kim, 70, will begin his tenure as the 22nd CEO of the $29 billion savings fund on Nov. 12. His three-year term will expire on Nov. 11, 2023.

Kim will be filling in the position which had been vacant since his predecessor Cha Sung-soo left the fund in January to run for the general elections. Since March, the fund was managed by acting chief executive Lee Jin-seok. 

Previously, Kim served as the deputy prime minister-cum-education minister between 2017 and 2018 under the current President Moon Jae-in. He also worked as the chairman at the Institute of Education in Gyeonggi Province. 

As one of the major saving funds in Korea, KTCU has been stepping up its investment activities with plans to increase its exposure to equities markets and M&A financing deals.

In a recent interview with The Korea Economic Daily, its Chief Investment Officer Kim Ho-hyun said that the fund plans to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to new blind-pool funds in the first half of next year and boost the outstanding balance of its equities portfolio to 7 trillion won ($6.1 billion) by the end of 2021 from the current 5.5 trillion won.

Write to Jun-ho Cha at chacha@hankyung.com
Danbee Lee edited this article.