Yong-Lin Moon, PhD
Hall of Fame Class of 2007
Yong-Lin Moon, PhD, is currently a professor of educational psychology at the College of Education, Seoul National University. His career has also included teaching at King Sejong University and serving as head researcher at the Korea Educational Institute. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota, his M.A., Seoul National University, Korea and his B.A., Seoul National University.
Moon was appointed as the Minister of Education, Republic of Korea in 2000 where he was a major contributor to Korea's education policy. Prior to this he served as a member of the Education Reform Committee and the New Education Committee. He also served as Director of the Moral Education Bureau at the Korea Education Development Institute (KEDI), where he directed the design of nation wide curriculum and textbook development of moral education in elementary and secondary education.
His work on the Presidential Commission for Education Reform and his subsequent work in the ministry had significant impact on all levels of education throughout the country. The focus of these reforms was on preparing students for the information era, supported by a more effective technological infrastructure and changing educational methods to produce students with improved problem-solving and critical thinking skills. He envisioned an entire school environment with facilities, textbooks, teachers, hardware and software that would support an information community environment, as a way to prepare students better for this information era.
Moon is the author of numerous publications in both English and Korean, including Future Direction of Korea’s University Education and Education Reform for the 21st Century. His scholarly publications focus on civic education, moral development and educational policy. He has also been influential in non-government organizations for the development of youth, including serving as President of Korea Foundation for Youth Violence Prevention; Safe Kids Worldwide, Korea Chapter; and Building New Community for Reading. Moon’s efforts have mobilized a society to focus more on the societal needs of children and their protection and development.