Choi Jieun

Choi Jieun (Korean: 최지은; Hanja: 崔芝銀; born 21 November 1980) is a South Korean economist and politician serving as the inaugural International Spokesperson of the Democratic Party since May 2020. Before entering politics in 2020, Choi worked as a senior economist at the World Bank and the African Development Bank.

This article is about South Korean economist. For South Korean figure skater, see Choi Ji-eun.
Choi Jieun
International Spokesperson of the Democratic Party
Assumed office
4 May 2020
LeaderLee Hae-chan
Lee Nak-yeon
Preceded byPosition established
Personal details
Born (1980-11-21) 21 November 1980
Busan, South Korea
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materSogang University
Harvard University
University of Oxford
Websitehttps://www.jieunchoi.org/
In this Korean name, the family name is Choi.

Education

Choi holds three degrees: a bachelor's in economics from Sogang University, a Master of Public Administration in international development from the Harvard Kennedy School, and a doctorate in international development from University of Oxford.[1] She is a graduate of Myungduk Foreign Language High School.

Career before politics

Choi has demonstrated herself as an expert in international development through her work at African Development Bank and World Bank.

From 2004 Choi worked at Samsung Electronics's Telecommunications Network Division overseeing its projects in China and Viet Nam[2] before leaving for postgraduate studies at Harvard Kennedy School in 2007.[3]

Upon graduation, Choi joined African Development Bank via Young Professionals Programme becoming as its first South Korean staff since 1982 when South Korea officially become its non-regional members.[4] She worked as its country economist for Egypt during 2011 Arab Spring and later promoted to senior economist at its research department.[3]

In 2013 Choi then joined World Bank as its senior economist assisting former Soviet Union countries' transition to market economies and later Africa's standing in 4th industrial revolution.[2] Before leaving for the general election in 2020, she worked as a senior country economist for China.[5]

Political career

In January 2020 Choi returned to Korea and entered politics. She was recruited by the Democratic Party for the upcoming legislative election in April.[4]

In the 2020 general election, Choi ran for the constituency in Busan - the same constituency Roh Moo-hyun unsuccessfully ran for to overcome regionalism but later became the stepping stone for Roh's presidential campaign.[6] She lost to the incumbent parliamentarian from the main opposition party, Kim Do-eup (Korean: 김도읍), by the smallest margin the democratic candidate lost in 12 years - a notable figure considering this constituency never elected a democratic parliamentarian since its creation in 1996 and she just entered politics 3 months ago.[7]

In May 2020 Choi was appointed as the international spokesperson of the Democratic Party - the first of its kind in the history of her party and preceding parties.[8][1] In August 2020 the newly elected leader of her party, Lee Nak-yon, re-appointed her to the same post while creating other spokesperson posts for other areas - youth, economy and security affairs.[9]

In October 2020 Choi joined the party's newly founded "Korean Peninsula Taskforce (Korean: 한반도TF)" as its founding member. This taskforce consisted of senior assembly members with expertise in foreign and inter-Korean relations will seek out to support ongoing momentum in Korean peninsula towards peace irrespective of leadership changes in Japan and United States.[10]

Electoral history
Election Year District Party Affiliation Votes Percentage of votes Results
21st National Assembly General Election 2020 Busan Buk District-Gangseo District B Democratic Party 63,146 43.20% Lost

References
  1. "Ruling party appoints first-ever press officer for foreign media". koreatimes. 2020-05-05. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  2. "Jieun Choi | Senior Economist, Office of Chief Economist, Africa Region". blogs.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  3. "최지은 월드뱅크 국제개발컨설팅 이코노미스트, "한국 젊은이들 국제개발 독창적 역할 기대"". www.dt.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  4. "與 영입인재 9호는 최지은 박사…세계은행 출신 '국제 문제 전문가'". hankyung.com (in Korean). 2020-01-16. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  5. 김동호 (2020-01-16). "민주 '세계은행 이코노미스트' 최지은 영입…"국제경제 전문가"(종합)". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  6. "CNN.com - Profile: President-elect Roh Moo-hyun - Dec. 31, 2002". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  7. UPI뉴스 (2020-04-29). ""떨어졌지만 험지에서 내공 쌓았다…민주당 미래를 맡겠다"". UPI뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  8. 서혜림 (2020-05-04). "민주, 외신대변인 별도로 둔다…최지은 전WB 이코노미스트 임명". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  9. "더불어민주당". theminjoo.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  10. 기자, 인천/박주용 (2020-10-15). "송영길, "국익 확보 위해 전방위 의원외교 나설 것"". 신아일보 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-10-15.
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