The United Kingdom has the International Biographical Centre (IBC) and the United States has the American Biographical Institute (ABI). They are recognized in terms of demanding selection criteria, long publishing history, the accuracy of the information contained and huge size and high quality of the database.

The oldest living directory of the world’s three largest biographical directories began in 1899 when American publisher Albert Nelson Marquis published "Who's Who in America," introducing 8,602 American celebrities. 

About 500 Korean experts from all walks of life are listed in Who's Who including 23 experts of the Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).

Listing criteria are positions and achievements. The people listed are officials from heads of state in major countries, high-ranking soldiers, heads of global companies, presidents of major universities, global NGOs and the United Nations, heads of major cultural institutions and organizations, and winners of international awards such as the Nobel Prize.

The Korea IT Times conducted an interview with Cho Sung-cap, Vice President of Sehan University, who was selected as a "World's Leading Expert 2020" by Who's Who.

Q1) First of all, congratulations on being named in Who's Who 2020 listing and by the 2016 IBC Century in the U.K. When was it announced, applied for, and how was it chosen?

I received an email notification on December 23, 2019. It was after a review of the world's top 3% leading experts. As you may know, I was already listed by the UK IBC in 2016. I didn't apply for this.

Q2) Then, did you have additional conditions such as publicity or screening fees for listing? I'm sorry, but I heard that this happens. If it was after a review of the world’s top 3% of experts, I think there are less than 150 people in Korea.

Not at all. I found out about the certificate from an email. That's why I could trust it. Especially, it surprised me because I'm not a great scientist and also never studied abroad.

Q3) I'm curious about the background.

Global Leader's Standards, I learned the criteria for globalization while working at an IBM foreign investment company for a long time. 

First, study from bachelor's to doctorate degrees at different universities.
Second, have you accumulated creative ideas and knowledge and have you applied it in practice? 
Third, have you proven results and achieved your goals in the last three years, even if you had poor academic background and performance in the past?

To illustrate this, first, I achieved my bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from different schools. I studied and memorized the Chinese's four-character idioms and poems. Furthermore, I created and published the Korean version of the modern four-character idioms revised to fit in Korea's reality and following Myungshimbogam.

Particularly, I realized that success or failure in life depends on human relationships. In this regard, I created and published "Computational Algorithm & Brain Up."

I also judged that the core value of the Fourth Industrial Revolution was in software. Therefore, I established software subjects in elementary, middle and high schools with 22 academic organizations as a president of the Korea Federation of Information Technology Societies. And I persuaded policymakers to adopt them as regular subjects starting in 2014. As a result, students at each level of school now study software as a regular subject.

Q4) From the sound of things it's a pearl embedded in the mud. And do you think there were other factors that helped you be picked as part of the 3%?

I'm embarrassed, but I'll answer what you're asking. I think I was selected as a global expert because I have accumulated a lot of achievements starting with my work at IBM and working across industries, universities, research institutes, and government. I've written eight books on information and communication and a number of papers. And also, I think they noted the Minister's citation, the Presidential Award, the Order of Industrial Merit, the Order of National Merit.

The intelligence of the United States is great, and it is reflected in the principle of commendation shown in their important Who's Who Directory. 

Yoo Mi-ja Reporter 다른기사 보기