Lim Jong-deock Director-General, NRICH
Mr. Lim Jong-deock, who has remained dedicated to NRICH throughout his 19-year career as a government official apart from only
three months, is now taking his first steps forward as its new director. We listened to the goals and commitments that he aims to
realize together with his longstanding colleagues
Q. Congratulations on your appointment as NRICH’s new
director. How does it feel?
I feel very comfortable at NRICH as it is my de facto second
home. I feel both energized and slightly weighed down by the
responsibility of taking on this leadership position. NRICH’s
physical scale and scope of interest have grown considerably
compared to the past, and thus it is a bit overwhelming to
build a strategy to project and respond to the future.
Q. NRICH has focused on conserving and promoting
Korea’s cultural heritage in various ways, including
digital archiving, to keep up with the latest trends.
How do you foresee NRICH’s future trajectory?
That is one of my primary interests. I aim to develop NRICH
into the pillar or foundation of Korea’s digital cultural heritage
research by driving the activities of the Digital Heritage Team.
I believe that we are at the threshold of taking a leap forward
as Korea’s representative cultural heritage platform with
global competitiveness.
Q. Korea’s heritage conservation technology is at the
center of global attention. NRICH is involved in various
related projects, right?
NRICH operates several programs to share our state-of-the
art conservation technology, such as ACPCS and OTTP, with
international experts. For ACPCS, researchers from abroad are
required to visit NRICH in Korea and receive training on site.
Many trainees have gone on to apply for additional training
after the completion of the original training. These programs
are evaluated to have created substantial synergy by promoting
information exchange among experts working for national institutions and to have ensured greater satisfaction based on
their segmentation by material type including wood and metal.
I plan to expand these programs to advance the global spread
of the heritage conservation technology unique to Korea.
Q. Please share with us your vision as a researcher
turned-director.
I am sure that I have a better understanding of our staff’s
needs since I was a researcher for an extended period of
time. I plan to communicate effectively with our staff based
on this understanding. I also plan to reflect on ways to further
highlight the valuable outcomes of our researchers’ hard
work and explorations, from academic papers to reports, in
the international arena. Thank you.
