Lee Kwan-gyu, director of the National Institute of Korean Language. [Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]
Lee Kwan-gyu, director of the National Institute of Korean Language. [Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism]

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday that Lee Kwan-gyu, 65, a professor in the Korean language education department at Korea University, has been appointed director of the National Institute of Korean Language through an open recruitment process run by the Ministry of Personnel Management. His term will run for two years.

Lee earned his bachelor's degree in Korean language education from Korea University, then received master's and doctoral degrees in Korean language and literature from the same institution. After serving on the faculty at Silla University and Hongik University, he joined Korea University's Korean language education department as a professor in 2006, dedicating decades to advancing the Korean language in academic and educational settings.

He has served as president of the Korean Language Education Society, president of the Korean Grammar Education Society, and director and vice president of the Hangeul Society, focusing throughout on promoting proper Korean language use among the public. He has also served as a deliberation committee member on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Korean Language Deliberation Council and as a member of the National Institute of Korean Language's Korean Language Norms Revision Committee.

Lee has authored numerous papers on topics including school grammar theory, the evolution and challenges of inter-Korean language norms, grammar education theory, Korean language policy and linguistic norms, and Korean language and Korean-as-a-foreign-language education.

Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said she hopes Lee's expertise and experience will "greatly contribute to improving the public's language life and advancing our country toward becoming a nation of linguistic sovereignty, at a time when people's language lives are rapidly changing due to advances in AI technology."


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