South Korean President Lee Myung-bak expressed strong support Monday for Jim Yong Kim, the nominee for World Bank president, saying he believes the Korean-born health and development expert is the right person to lead and reform the global institution.

Last month, U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Kim, president of Dartmouth College, as the next leader of the World Bank. Kim is expected to be formally chosen as president of the institution tasked with reducing poverty and supporting development around the world later this month.

Kim arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a two-day trip and paid a visit to Lee.

“Korea received a lot of help from the World Bank in the past,” Lee said at the start of the meeting with Kim. “I believe the right person has been nominated at a time when the World Bank needs change.”

Lee noted Kim was born in South Korea and watched the country develop its economy, stressing that the experience will contribute to him helping economic development in less well-off nations, senior presidential press secretary Choe Guem-nak said.

Lee also praised Kim’s organizational management skills as head of Dartmouth College, Choe said.

Kim expressed gratitude for Lee’s support, saying that he will lead the 187-nation organization based on a lesson learned from South Korea’s economic development experience that investment in human resources is key to economic development in developing countries, Choe said.

Born in Seoul in 1959, Kim moved to the U.S. with his family when he was five years old.

As a pioneer in the treatment of HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis, Kim has the breadth of experience on development issues needed to carry out the financial institution’s anti-poverty mission, Obama said while nominating Kim. 

(Yonhap News)