He graduated from the Department of Civil Engineering at the College of Engineering, Seoul National University. In the early 1970s, he began his career in transportation at the Korea Highway Corporation. He later earned a master's degree from Northwestern University in the United States and obtained a Ph.D. in transportation engineering and planning from the University of Maryland.
At the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), he was involved in highway planning projects, including the Jungbu Expressway and the Seoul Outer Ring Expressway. At the Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), he led the engineering study for the construction master plan of the Gyeongbu High-Speed Rail (KTX) and engaged in studies on highway traffic management and urban transportation policies.
He then took charge of the Transportation Improvement Planning Task Force in Daegu Metropolitan City. dedicating himself to the development of transportation policies for regional metropolitan areas as well.
From 1998 to 2002, he served as the Director-General of Transportation Management Office of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. In this role, he was responsible for improving Seoul’s transportation systems in preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and played a key role in making overall innovations of the city's transportation system, laying the foundation for what it is today in Seoul. He simplified the public transportation fare payment system by integrating transportation cards, implemented a fare discount policy for easy and cheap transfers, and introduced a bus arrival information system at bus stops, which improved bus operations and significantly enhanced convenience for waiting passengers. Additionally, he introduced an advanced traffic management system on urban expressways, enabling real-time congestion monitoring and traffic information dissemination, greatly enhancing driver safety on highways. To address the widespread issue of illegal parking on Seoul’s secondary roads, he installed parking lines along all possible parking spots on every back street in Seoul, thereby restoring parking order to the city's back street, where illegal parking had been rampant. Through these efforts, he has contributed to all three of Korea’s major transportation projects - expressways, high-speed rail, and Seoul’s urban transportation policies - establishing himself as a leading transportation expert.
