Kim Hyun-woo, CEO of the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), is expected to be appointed as Seoul's director of economic affairs, one of the city government's top Grade 1 positions.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted an open recruitment process for the post last month and, after reviewing applications and conducting interviews, selected Kim as the final candidate.
Kim graduated from Kyung Hee University with a degree in economics before working in the financial sector at Korea Long Term Credit Bank and HSBC. He later moved into venture investment, serving as CEO of Boston Startup Investment. He built expertise across biotech, IT, film and cultural content.
Since taking the helm at SBA in November 2021, Kim has worked to transform the agency from a conventional small and medium-sized enterprise support body into an economic promotion organization focused on investment, exports, content and global marketing.
Those efforts earned SBA the top rating in Seoul's annual performance evaluation of city-affiliated institutions for two consecutive years, and Kim was reappointed to a second term.
After taking office, Kim established a "Future Innovation Division" to identify new growth industries for Seoul and shifted the agency's support priorities toward global expansion and export growth.
As a result, SBA's export support performance grew sharply — from 12 billion won ($8.69 million) in 2021 to 571 billion won in 2025.
A standout achievement was the launch of SeoulCon, an initiative designed to bring global influencers and K-content creators to Seoul and position the city itself as a global content and marketing platform.
SeoulCon's inaugural edition in 2023 drew about 100,000 domestic and international visitors and was credited with generating roughly 150 billion won in economic value.
Kim also pushed to help Seoul's small and medium-sized enterprises — including K-beauty brands — expand overseas. From 2023, SBA ran a program supporting companies in entering Amazon's marketplace, helping 488 Seoul-based firms reach international markets by 2025.
Kim is widely regarded as a CEO who brought a private-sector venture investment sensibility to public institution management, expanding SBA from a business support agency into a global economic and industrial platform for Seoul.
His track record earned him strong trust from Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who reportedly remarked that the city should recruit CEOs of Kim's caliber into its affiliated institutions.
If appointed as director of economic affairs — the city's highest Grade 1 administrative post — Kim is expected to inject fresh momentum into Seoul's business support, investment attraction and global industry development policies.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to present Kim with his appointment letter around Sept. 12, once background checks and other required procedures are completed.
Alongside the economic affairs director post, the city also selected candidates through open recruitment for three other positions: a person surnamed Han for director of the Seoul Museum of History, a person surnamed Park for future youth planning officer, and a person surnamed Kim for chief of the urban planning standing committee.
Meanwhile, former Seoul Deputy Mayor for Political Affairs Kim Byung-min has been named incoming head of the Seoul Tourism Foundation.
seouldream01@heraldcorp.com
