Bureaucrat and politician; Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy and lawmaker
| Life | 1939 ~ 2020 |
| Era | 현대 (대한민국) |
| Clan | 영월 신씨 |
Shin Kook-hwan (辛國煥, 1939–2020) was a South Korean economic official and politician of the Yeongwol Shin clan; his pen name was Yunseo. He was born on 2 September 1939 in Gaepo-myeon, Yecheon County, North Gyeongsang, attended Yecheon Middle School and Kyungbuk High School, graduated from Seoul National University's College of Law in 1963, and earned a master's degree in public administration at the National Defense College in 1984. He left the army as a captain in 1970.
Entering government through the 4th higher civil service examination, he spent his career in commerce and industry, heading planning and management, and served as the 8th Commissioner of the Industrial Advancement Administration in 1992–93 under Presidents Roh Tae-woo and Kim Young-sam. Under President Kim Dae-jung he was twice Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy, as the 4th minister in 2000–01 and the 6th in 2002–03. He also lectured at KAIST.
In politics he helped found the United Liberal Democrats, serving as deputy secretary-general, and ran unsuccessfully in his home district of Mungyeong–Yecheon in 1996, 1998 and 2000 before winning it as an independent in 2004. He then became co-leader and, in 2006–07, leader of the People First Party, later joining several successor parties of the center-left before leaving party politics in 2008.
He received an honorary doctorate in economics from Korea Polytechnic University in 2003. A Catholic (baptismal name Peter), he had three daughters. He died on 9 December 2020 at the age of 81. As an official he shaped industrial policy at the head of two industrial agencies, and as a politician he was a rare independent winner in northern Gyeongsang.