Lee Sung-ok, 51, former head of the Informatization Planning Office of the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), has been appointed as new president of the Institute for Information Technology Advancement (IITA). IITA held a directors' meeting at Hotel Lotte in Seoul on July 24 and named Lee as its 5th president with a three-year tenure of office. The newly appointed president graduated from Cheonan High School and Hanyang University in Seoul. He also completed the courses of the Graduate School of Administration of the University of Southern California in the United States in 1993, Korea National Defense University in 1997 and the information, communication and broadcasting policy courses of the Graduate School of Administration of Seoul National University in 1998. After passing the 21st state examinations for higher officials in administration in 1978, he started his public career. He served as director of the information-based screening office, the post office financing bureau, the electric wave broadcasting management bureau of the MIC. The inauguration ceremony was held at the IITA auditorium on July 25.