Nak-ku Choi (Korean: 최낙구; Hanja: 崔洛久; August 11, 1918 – February 25, 2003) was a South Korean education administrator and civil servant. His career encompassed education, libraries, science, cultural heritage, and academic administration. He served as director of the National Library of Korea and the National Science Museum of Korea, and held senior positions in the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Korean History. His work included efforts leading to the enactment of South Korea's first Library Act in 1963, the postwar reconstruction and development of the National Science Museum, and international cooperation involving academic, library, museum, and overseas Korean educational institutions.Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Civil Servant Personnel Record Card – Choi Nak-ku (공무원 인사기록카드 ― 최낙구), education, career and honors sections.《경향신문》 [Kyunghyang Shinmun], June 20, 1963, 〈국립도서관장 최낙구 씨 ― 새집 지어 옮길 계획 / 「도서관법 빨리돼야」〉 ["National Library Director Nak-ku Choi – Plans to Move to a New Building / 'Library Act Must Be Enacted Quickly'"].《동아일보》 [Dong-A Ilbo], September 12, 1966, p. 3, 〈한미 과학자협의회 개막〉 ["Korea–U.S. Scientists' Conference Opens"].
Early life and education
Choi was born on August 11, 1918, in Goseong County, South Gyeongsang Province. He first studied the Classics at a traditional village school before entering modern schools. In 1935 he entered Hokushin Commercial School (北神商業學校) in Kobe, Japan, graduating in 1940. He then entered the commercial course of the professional division of Kansai University, but withdrew in 1941. His official personnel record gives the reason for his withdrawal as an "anti-Japanese student incident" (반일학생사건). Korea was then under Japanese colonial rule, which lasted from 1910 to 1945.
In 1961 Choi entered the National Defense Graduate School and completed a paper entitled Korean Labor Problems and Population (한국노동문제와 인구) in 1962.Choi Nak-ku (최낙구), 한국노동문제와 인구 [Korean Labor Problems and Population], National Defense Graduate School, 1962.
Early administrative career and cultural heritage
Choi began his career in local administration during the final years of Japanese rule. After Korea's liberation, he served as head of Gaechon-myeon in Goseong County and took part in local recovery work during the Korean War. He entered the Ministry of Education in 1953 and later worked in planning and cultural heritage administration.
By 1957 he was working in the ministry's cultural preservation division. His work included the postwar restoration of cultural properties, notably the reconstruction of Chokseongnu in Jinju. In a later account, Choi recalled that he had arranged for reconstruction funds to be included in the 1958 government budget and defended the expenditure before the National Assembly's education committee.《경남일보》 [Gyeongnam Ilbo], seven-part series beginning July 3, 1990, 〈촉석루 중건 비화〉 ["The Untold Story of the Reconstruction of Chokseongnu"]. In 1960 he published a six-part series explaining Korean cultural properties in the Ministry of Education's Monthly Education Review (문교월보). As head of the cultural preservation division in 1961, he also participated in work connected with the restoration of Seokguram, which was carried out with UNESCO technical assistance.《경향신문》 [Kyunghyang Shinmun], August 17, 1961, 〈석굴암 보수 현지 보고〉 ["On-site Report on the Restoration of Seokguram"].
National Academy of Sciences
In 1959 Choi became the first director of the secretariat of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Korea after its administrative office was formally organized. A later account by Han Seung-eun, who worked with him at the Academy, credited Choi with organizing its early administrative structure and promoting exchanges with foreign academies and academic organizations, including American institutions and the Pacific Science Association. During this period the Academy also expanded its international academic contacts and joined the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU) in 1961.Han Seung-eun (한승은), 〈문교정책과 사업에 빛나는 업적〉 ["Distinguished Achievements in Educational Policy and Administration"], 혜화 [Hyehwa], no. 11, Hyehwa Girls' High School, 1983, pp. 88–90.
Choi summarized the Academy's operations in a report published in its bulletin in 1960.Choi Nak-ku (최낙구), 〈원무보고: 학술원 운영개황〉 ["Operational Report: Overview of the National Academy of Sciences"], 학술원회보 [Bulletin of the National Academy of Sciences], no. 3, September 30, 1960, pp. 42–45.
National Library and the Library Act
Choi became director of the National Library in May 1963. At the time, the institution faced shortages of books, space, and funding. In a June 1963 newspaper interview, Choi publicly called for the prompt enactment of a national library law. At a roundtable organized by The Chosun Ilbo in September, he described overcrowding at the National Library and argued for the expansion of public and school libraries, mobile library services, and greater emphasis on reading habits in schools.《조선일보》 [The Chosun Ilbo], September 27, 1963, 〈독서는 「습관」 / 도서관법도 서둘러야〉 ["Reading Is a 'Habit' / The Library Act Should Also Be Expedited"], roundtable organized by the newspaper.
Librarian Song Bong-seop later recalled that Choi regarded legislation as essential to establishing the functions and organization of libraries, facility standards, legal deposit, and a professional librarian system. Song also described Choi's repeated efforts to persuade officials of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction to advance the bill.Song Bong-seop (송봉섭), 〈省菴先生의 힘으로 햇빛 본 도서관법〉 ["The Library Act Brought to Light through Seongam's Efforts"], 혜화 [Hyehwa], no. 11, Hyehwa Girls' High School, 1983, pp. 98–100.
The proposed Library Act was passed by the relevant standing committee of the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction on October 7, 1963.《동아일보》 [Dong-A Ilbo], October 7, 1963, 〈도서관법 통과 ― 각령으로 시설기준 규정, 출판사서 간행물 납부〉 ["Library Act Passed – Facility Standards to Be Prescribed by Cabinet Order; Publishers to Deposit Publications"].《조선일보》 [The Chosun Ilbo], October 8, 1963, 〈도서관법 통과〉 ["Library Act Passed"]. The Supreme Council exercised legislative authority under the military government established after the May 1961 coup led by General Park Chung Hee. The law was promulgated as Act No. 1424 on October 28, 1963. A Chosun Ilbo editorial noted that its enactment had been delayed for about eight years.《조선일보》 [The Chosun Ilbo], October 9, 1963, editorial, 〈도서관법의 제정을 보고〉 ["On the Enactment of the Library Act"].
The Act established standards for library operation and facilities and institutionalized legal deposit and the professional librarian system. The National Library was reorganized as the National Central Library, and Choi became its first director under the new name.《경향신문》 [Kyunghyang Shinmun], October 10, 1963, 〈학교마다 설치 규정 ― 자치단체선 도와야 하고, 반드시 어린이부·사서 직위 높아져〉.
In 1964, Choi attended an Asia-Pacific regional seminar on the development of national libraries in Manila as South Korea's representative, where he presented the situation of Korean libraries. He later published a two-part account of the seminar in Dohyeop Wolbo.Choi Nak-ku (최낙구), 〈아세아 태평양지역 국립도서관 발전에 관한 세미나에 참석하고〉 ["After Attending the Seminar on the Development of National Libraries in the Asia-Pacific Region"], parts 1–2, 도협월보 [Dohyeop Wolbo], vol. 5, nos. 2 and 4, 1964.
National Science Museum and international cooperation
Choi was appointed director of the National Science Museum in 1964. The museum had been greatly reduced after its building on Namsan was destroyed during the Korean War. Choi sought to develop it from a small, largely exhibition-oriented institution into a science center combining exhibition, research, experimentation, and education.Kang Young-sun (강영선), 〈과학관 재건에 크나큰 공로〉 ["Major Contributions to the Reconstruction of the Science Museum"], 혜화 [Hyehwa], no. 11, Hyehwa Girls' High School, 1983, pp. 79–82.Won Pyong-oh (원병오), 〈전 국립과학관장 최낙구선생님〉 ["Former National Science Museum Director Nak-ku Choi"], 혜화 [Hyehwa], no. 11, Hyehwa Girls' High School, 1983, pp. 83–85.
He organized Korean scientists to participate in planning the museum's development. According to Kang Young-sun, the resulting planning committee met 52 times during Choi's tenure. International cooperation became an important part of the reconstruction effort. Contacts with American scientific and museum organizations led to an international conference hosted by the National Science Museum in Seoul in September 1966.《경향신문》 [Kyunghyang Shinmun], September 12, 1966, report on the international scientists' conference hosted by the National Science Museum.
Participants included representatives of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Association of Museums, the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, together with Korean scientists. They discussed the character and development of the proposed new museum and possible foreign assistance in materials and technical expertise.
According to Kang, discussions also included possible assistance from the Smithsonian Institution and other American museum institutions and the dispatch of American specialists to Korea. In his opening address, Choi argued that the new institution should not remain a static museum devoted primarily to displaying objects but should develop into a science center with research and experimental functions.
Curriculum, publishing, and historical research administration
In 1967 Choi became director of the secretariat of the National Institute of Korean History, and on September 1 that year, Choi was appointed director-general of the Compilation Bureau of the Ministry of Education. At the time, the bureau was responsible for curriculum development, the compilation of government-designated textbooks, the review and approval of other textbooks, and research on the Korean language and educational materials. During his tenure, the ministry's organizational regulations were amended to establish subject-specific specialist positions within the bureau—compilation officers, deputy compilation officers, and assistant compilation officers—responsible for curriculum research and the compilation, review, and approval of textbooks. According to Choi Young-bok's retrospective account, Choi also oversaw the revision of authorized middle- and high-school textbooks and supplementary teaching materials, coordinating competing interests among the state textbook company and private publishers.Choi Young-bok (최영복), 〈관용과 엄격을 갖춘 실천가〉 ["A Practitioner Combining Tolerance and Strictness"], 혜화 [Hyehwa], no. 11, Hyehwa Girls' High School, 1983, pp. 76–78.
He returned to the National Institute of Korean History as secretariat director in 1968. Historian Lee Hyeon-jong later credited him with helping secure the site and funding for the institute's new facilities in Daehyeon-dong, Seoul. Lee also recalled that Choi recognized the declining number of specialists in Korea and Japan capable of deciphering historical documents written in older Japanese cursive scripts and initiated a project to decipher and organize documents relating to Tsushima, an important body of material for the study of Korea–Japan relations.Lee Hyeon-jong (이현종), 〈국사편찬위원회와 최교장〉 ["The National Institute of Korean History and Principal Choi"], 혜화 [Hyehwa], no. 11, Hyehwa Girls' High School, 1983, pp. 86–87.
School administration and overseas Korean education