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Kim Eun-kyung (Korean: 김은경; Hanja: 金恩京; born 9 June 1956) is a South Korean politician who served as President Moon Jae-in's first Minister of Environment. She was later jailed for two years and sixth months for abuse of power during her term as environment minister.

Career

Kim was previously widely known to the public as "Ms. Phenol" due to her activism as a citizen representative during 1991 Nakdong River phenol contamination incident.

She first started public service in 1995 when she was elected as Nowon District Council member. On 1998, she was elected as a Seoul Metropolitan Council member. After losing her re-election in 2002, she joined then-candidate Roh Moo-hyun's presidential campaign as his special advisor on environment. She continued working with Roh at his transition team and Blue House until the end of his presidency in 2006.

Kim served as the environment minister from July 2017 to November 2018. In January 2018, the Environment Ministry created a blacklist of 24 public servants associated with the previous Park Geun-hye administration. Kim pressured 15 executives of state-run companies to step down and be replaced by loyalists to the Moon administration. 13 of 24 individuals on the list resigned due to government pressure.

On February 9, 2021, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim Eun-kyung to 2 years and six months of prison for the environment ministry blacklist case. The court also ordered her to be immediately jailed to prevent the possible destruction of evidence.

Education

She holds three degrees - a bachelor and doctorate in management from Korea University and a master's in urban administration from University of Seoul.

Awards

• Order of Service Merit by the government of South Korea (2005)

References

1. 환경부 열린장관실 역대 환경부 장·차관. me.go.kr. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
2. ^ Ser, Myo-ja (9 February 2021). "Blacklist sends ex-environment minister to jail". Korea JoongAng Daily. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
3. [프로필]김은경 환경부 장관 후보자···'페놀아줌마' 건전한 생태계 복원 기대. Newsis (in Korean). 11 June 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
4. 이, 한재 (5 July 2018). "[Who Is ?] 김은경 환경부 장관". 김은경 환경부 장관. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
5. '환경부 블랙리스트' 김은경, 1심 유죄 불복…곧장 항소. Newsis (in Korean). 9 February 2021. Retrieved 10 February 2021.
6. 김은경 :: 네이버 인물검색. people.search.naver.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.

• Living people
• 1956 births
• South Korean politicians convicted of crimes
• Korea University alumni
• University of Seoul alumni
• Politicians from Seoul
• Women government ministers of South Korea
• Environment ministers of South Korea