Life Summary
Park Jae-gyu is the president of Kyungnam University, serving in this role for 21 years, with a total of 33 years as president, excluding a period when he briefly left the university for a government position.

He served as the Minister of Unification under the Kim Dae-jung administration and was one of the key figures behind the first inter-Korean summit. A respected expert on North Korean and unification issues, Park has advised and consulted various administrations, spanning both conservative and progressive governments.

Born on August 11, 1944, in Changwon, Gyeongnam, Park studied political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University in the U.S. and earned his master’s and doctoral degrees from the City University of New York Graduate School and Kyung Hee University, respectively.

His older brother, Park Jong-gyu, former director of the Kyungnam University Foundation and a former Blue House Security Chief under President Park Chung-hee, established the foundation. Park Jae-gyu took on the role of corporate director for the foundation, consistently leading the university as president.

He joined Kyungnam University in 1973 as a professor and served as director of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, renowned for its North Korean research.

He chaired the Inter-Korean Summit Promotion Committee and served as a presidential advisor on unification across the Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak administrations, and as a unification advisory committee member under the Park Geun-hye administration.

Park was instrumental in establishing Kyungnam University’s North Korean Studies program, developing it from an undergraduate program into a specialized graduate school and later into the University of North Korean Studies.

Kyungnam University is the largest private university in Gyeongnam based on enrollment size. However, the freshman enrollment rate fell below 80% for the 2024 academic year, and the university failed to secure a spot in the major government-funded Glocal University 30 project in both 2023 and 2024. This has led to calls for renewed leadership to help the university progress.

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