Greeting

Welcome. I am Park Ki-Gwan.

My studies began with a longstanding question: “Why do our regions so often fall behind?” That question led me to study local self-government, local councils, and relations between governments. I have sought answers through teaching and research, and through service on national and local government committees.

One teacher led me onto the path of scholarship. Professor Choi Chang-ho, whom I met in graduate school, helped lay the foundations of local government studies in Korea. His teacher, Professor Rho Yung Hee, founded the Korean Association for Local Government Studies and became its first president. Professor Choi stood alongside him in leading the association’s founding and later served as its 2nd president. I was Professor Choi's youngest disciple. He was demanding yet always gentle: a scholar in the fullest sense. When I later became president of the association that my teacher's teacher had founded and my teacher had nurtured, I came to understand how scholarship passes from one person to the next. Professor Choi passed away in the spring of 2026, but his question of how our regions can stand on their own remains mine to pursue.

Alongside the record of my research and public service, this website offers the poetry I have continued to write throughout my life as a scholar of public administration. Please feel free to share your thoughts. I will gather your letters and questions and reply once a month.

Whenever times were difficult, my mother would say, "Now, let us begin!" With those words, I open the door to this home.

Park Ki-Gwan