New CEO Park Jeong-rok (left) and Yeongju Mayor Hwang Byeong-jik. (Yeongju City)
New CEO Park Jeong-rok (left) and Yeongju Mayor Hwang Byeong-jik. (Yeongju City)

Park Jeong-rok, the new CEO of the Yeongju Culture and Tourism Foundation, officially took office Monday and began his duties.

Park was elected CEO that day at a foundation board meeting and received his letter of appointment from Chairman Hwang Byeong-jik.

The Yeongju Culture and Tourism Foundation works to promote local culture and the arts, enhance citizens' cultural welfare, boost tourism and organize regional festivals.

It also operates major cultural and tourism facilities, including Seonbi Sesang, Seonbichon and the Seonbi Culture Training Center.

As the foundation's projects and organizational scale have grown, the CEO's role has become increasingly important.

This role includes connecting cultural, artistic and tourism policy with on-the-ground projects and leading cooperation with regional agencies.

Park spent 11 years at the Seoul Tourism Association, serving three consecutive terms as full-time vice chairman and also as acting chairman.

During that time, he oversaw organizational management, personnel affairs, external projects and cooperation on tourism policy.

Particularly, he worked to build cooperative frameworks among the government, the National Assembly, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Metropolitan Council and the tourism industry, broadening the scope of governance.

He also served as an expert who channeled opinions from the tourism industry into policy.

"I will build a foundation that discovers cultural and tourism policies and content that showcase Yeongju's unique identity and connects them to the community and to citizens' lives," Park said upon taking office. "Building on the experience I have gained in the tourism industry, I will do my best to make the Yeongju Culture and Tourism Foundation a new model for revitalizing regional culture and tourism."


kbj7653@heraldcorp.com