Korean-American nominated assistant secretary

U.S. President George W. Bush Thursday nominated Korean-American Shinae Chun, 58, to be director of the Women`s Bureau of the Department of Labor, the level of assistant secretary.

It is the first time for the incumbent Bush administration to nominate an ethnic Korean as an assistant secretary-level official. In the previous Clinton government, Harold Koh (Koh Hong-Joo), a Korean-American, had served as an assistant secretary in charge of human rights at the State Department.

She is currently managing director of ITR Corporation in Chicago, and was director of the Illinois Department of Labor from 1991 to 1999. She is a graduate of Ewha Womans University in Seoul and received a master`s degree from Northwestern University. She was director of the Illinois Department of Financial Institutions from 1989 to 1991 and was special assistant to the Governor of Illinois for Asian American Affairs from 1984 to 1989.

Prof. Kang Young-U of Northeastern Illinois University, who overcame a visual disability to become a recognized educator in the U.S., is also a candidate for the post of assistant secretary of education.