South Korea’s ex-minister dies at 88

SEOUL: South Korean novelist and former culture minister Lee O-young, who orchestrated the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, has died after a battle with cancer, his family said on Saturday. He was 88.

A renowned scholar and literary critic, Lee had long been considered one of the brightest minds who helped the South reach its status as a cultural powerhouse.

He served as culture minister in the early 1990s, when the ministry was reorganised under former president Roh Tae-woo’s government.

During his time as a minister, Lee played a major role in founding the Korea National University of Arts (KNUA), which remains South Korea’s only state-run institution that specialises in art education.