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Korean woman appointed advisor to Vatican culture council

Korean woman appointed advisor to Vatican culture council

Posted July. 04, 2014 05:31,   

한국어

National University of Costa Rica Professor of Korean studies and East Asian studies Choe Hyeon-deok, 55, has been appointed advisor to the Pontifical Council for Culture on Tuesday.

According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea on Thursday, the council is an organization to research a wide variety of exponents of the world of culture encompassing academia, cultural circles, ethnicities and cultural regions around the world, non-Christians and atheists. It also fosters collaboration and dialogue with them and the Holy See. A total of twelve advisors were appointed for five year terms each, with two Asians among them, including Choe. In particular, Choe is noted as she is a Protestant, as well as being the only woman.

A graduate of the Philosophy department of Ewha Woman’s University in 1980, Choe studied in Germany, where she earned her doctorate in Philosophy at the University of Bremen in 1997. After stints from 2008 to 2013 at Ewha and Pusan National University as HK Research Professor, and at the Korea Office of Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, she took office in July 2013 as professor at the National University of Costa Rica.