Obama names Korean-American banker for key post

WASHINGTON  (Yonhap) -- President Barack Obama has nominated Audrey Choi, a Korean-American investment banker, as a member of the Community Development Advisory Board, the White House said Friday. Choi, 44, was the only Korean-American member of Obama's transition team to prepare for his presidency four years ago. Nominating her to the position on the board, which advises on policies regarding the activities of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, Obama cited she brings "a depth of experience and tremendous dedication" to the new role. The fund aims to promote access to capital and local economic growth in urban and rural low-income communities across the nation. Choi, who grew up in New York and graduated from Harvard University, has served as managing director and head of Morgan Stanley Global Sustainable Finance, since 2007. She is known for a successful career even from when she was relatively young. Choi worked in the Clinton administration in various policy positions at the White House, the Department of Commerce, and the Federal Communications Commission from 1996 to 2001, including chief of staff for the Council of Economic Advisers from 1999-2001 and domestic policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore for two years till 1999. She also worked as a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Germany from 1991-1995. Her mother, Choi Sook-nyul, is also famous in Korea for her novel "Year of Impossible Goodbyes" on Japan's atrocities during its colonization of Korea from 1910-45. She authored it in response to a book by a Japanese-American writer Yoko Kawashima Watkins that portrays the Japanese as victims of the colonial rule.