Who Are the Senior Married Officials in Seoul City?

Director Lee Su-yeon of the Blue City Leisure Bureau - Planning Officer Ma Chae-sook couple... Director Baek Woon-seok - Kim Myung-joo couple... Deputy Mayor Jin Kyung-sik of Seodaemun-gu - Education Support Policy Manager Oh Kyung-hee couple, etc.

Seoul Special City, with a population of 10 million, is a small government.

As the political, economic, transportation, educational, and cultural center, Seoul lacks only the functions of national defense, diplomacy, and judiciary that the central government holds, making it a small government.

Because of this, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has a voice as a participant in the State Council meetings.

Seoul is such a powerful organization that it has about 50,000 employees, including the main office and affiliated agencies.

Among Seoul’s senior officials, couples stand out notably.

First, the senior couple consists of Lee Soo-yeon, Director of the Green City and Leisure Bureau (Grade 2), and Ma Chae-sook, Public Relations Planning Officer (Grade 3). Both are Seoul National University alumni; Director Lee passed the first local civil service exam, and Officer Ma passed the third local civil service exam.

Director Lee has followed an elite career path, having served as Media Officer, Deputy Mayor of Jungnang District, Director of Seoul Grand Park, Welfare Planning Officer, and Welfare Policy Director. She currently leads about 800 green space civil servants as the Director of the Green City and Leisure Bureau. She is busy preparing for the Garden Expo to be held by the Han River in May.

Officer Ma, who passed the third local civil service exam, is a contemporary of Seoul’s influential group including Jeong Sang-hoon, Welfare Policy Director, and Lee Dong-ryul, Administrative Director. He has served as Traffic Operations Officer, Financial Planning Officer, Deputy Mayor of Jung District, and Deputy Mayor of Jongno District. Since January 1 of this year, he has been serving as Public Relations Planning Officer, actively working on-site to raise the level of public relations.

Director Baek Woon-seok and Director Kim Myung-joo are also a Grade 3 couple. They are Yonsei University alumni who passed the 41st and 43rd Administrative Exams, met while working at Seoul City, and got married. Director Baek completed training at the National Defense University and is currently studying at the University of North Carolina, USA. Director Kim completed training at the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Security last year and is expected to join her husband after mid-February this year.

Deputy Mayor Jin Kyung-sik of Seodaemun District (Grade 3) and Education Support Policy Officer Oh Kyung-hee (Grade 4) are also a couple. Deputy Mayor Jin graduated from the Department of Architecture at the University of Seoul and started as a Grade 7 civil servant. Officer Oh graduated from Dongduk Women’s University and joined Seoul City through the Grade 7 open competitive exam. She served as Digital Policy Officer and was promoted to Financial Planning Officer in January, succeeding former Officer Kim Mi-jung, and now serves as Education Support Policy Officer. This has led to evaluations that Officer Oh is one step closer to promotion to Grade 3 (Deputy Director) as a generalist.

Another couple includes former Planning Officer Kim Jong-su (Grade 3) and International Exchange Officer Jo Hye-jung (Grade 4). Both are administrative exam passers who met late at the main office and got married.

Additionally, there are administrative exam passers such as Lee Sang-guk, Deputy Director of Seoul Grand Park, and Officer Gyeong Ja-in.

Among Seoul City and autonomous district couples, there is Director Shin Dae-hyun (Grade 3), promoted on July 1 last year, and Team Leader Lee Sook-young of Seongdong District. Director Shin, who passed the 36th Administrative Exam, was promoted to Grade 3 late last year and is currently studying at the University of North Carolina, USA. Team Leader Lee is also joining him. This couple was introduced by Kim In-cheol, current Deputy Mayor of Nowon District, when he was Deputy Mayor of Seongdong District.

Although there are not many senior official couples in Seoul’s large organization, autonomous districts in Seoul have several couples at the section chief level in each district office.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.