Kolleen Park joins team

Kolleen Park

Renowned musical director Kolleen Park was tapped as a member of the Special Committee for Youth of President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team, Thursday.

According to Park’s chief spokesman Yoon Chang-jung, Park will join the committee set up to tackle youth unemployment and other policy headaches.

The 45-year-old artist is a renowned figure after her appearance on broadcaster KBS’s popular program, “Happy Sunday: What it Takes to be a Man,” in 2010.

While leading an amateur choir on the show, she displayed charismatic leadership.

Born in Los Angeles to a Korean father and Lithuanian-American mother, she spent most of her childhood in the southeastern port city of Busan and graduated from Gyeongnam Girls High School.

Then, she majored in cello at the California Institute of the Arts in the United States. She has American nationality, and speaks English and Korean fluently.

The veteran musician made her debut in Korea as a music director for the popular musical “Empress Myeongseong” in 1995. After this, she directed several musicals, including “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Aida” and “Fame.”

Park admitted earlier that she had a hard time due to the fact that she is biracial while growing up, Now she has her name on one of the important positions for the President-elect’s transition team to prepare for the launch of the new administration.

Such a move compares to that of her older sister, Kelly Soo Park who was indicted for murder in 2010 and finally arrested in October in the United States. <The Korea Times/Jun Ji-hye>