Pak Un-jong, who is tapped to head the nation’s anti-corruption watchdog, has ample experience in the fields of human rights and civic movements.

The law professor at Seoul National University is the second female chief to lead the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, following her predecessor, Kim Young-ran, a former Supreme Court justice.

She took the chief director role at the Korea Human Rights Foundation in 2008. She was the head of the judicial watchdog center within People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, and later became the co-head of the nongovernmental organization for two years in 2000.

The civic group is one of the many liberal organization that seeks to encourage people’s participation in the government’s decision-making processes and plays a role in monitoring the abuse of power.

Her expertise is not limited to judicial institutes and human rights. She worked as a member of the International Bioethics Committee for six years from 1998 and led the Asian Bioethics Association as a vice president. She is viewed as having sound understanding of the field of bioethics as well.

She was born in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, in 1952 and graduated from Ewha Womans University. She earned her doctoral degree in law at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

While the job is considered as a ministerial post, it does not require a parliamentary hearing, as Cabinet posts do.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)