Professor Um Young-sook (Department of Economics, College of Business and Economics) has been appointed the 15th President of the Korean Association of Environmental and Resource Economics, an academic society in the fields of environment and economics. This is the first time a female economist has served as president of the association.

Accordingly, Professor Um will serve a one-year term as president beginning in February and will work to advance the association.

At the start of her term, Professor Um said, "The Korean Association of Environmental and Resource Economics is an academic society that seeks to harmonize environmental conservation with economic growth," and added, "I will work with members to consider how to address recent challenges, such as climate change, within the framework of economic development."

She continued, "In particular, I will increase participation by young scholars with limited academic activity and establish a framework to enable outstanding regional human resources to interact with the Seoul metropolitan area," adding, "We will also properly carry out economic feasibility analyses of key national fiscal projects and, together with members, take the lead in efforts to build a healthier Republic of Korea."

Meanwhile, the Korean Association of Environmental and Resource Economics was founded in 1990 by economists studying environmental issues. It is involved in various policy formulation and institutional improvements, including preliminary feasibility studies for government projects.