Tsinghua University Photo: CFP

Newly elected South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday nominated Kim Min-seok, a lawmaker who led his election win as co-chairman of the Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) campaign committee, for Korea's next prime minister, according to The Korea Times. Chinese media outlets have taken note of and reported on Kim's educational background in China's Tsinghua University.

"Rep. Kim Min-seok is the right candidate to lead the recovery of the economy with his rich parliamentary experience, political and policy acumen as well as good sense of international affairs," Lee told reporters at the presidential briefing room in Seoul, per The Korea Times. It was Lee's first job announcement after his inauguration earlier in the day.

On Thursday, South Korea's Maeil Business Newspaper published an article introducing Kim and noting: "In the 2002 presidential election, he joined the camp of candidate Chung Mong-joon and subsequently experienced a long political hiatus. During this time, he studied at Rutgers University Law School in the United States and at Tsinghua University in China. He later returned to the Democratic Party and re-entered the 21st National Assembly, earning a gold badge for the first time in 16 years."

A report released on the website of Cankao Xiaoxi, a newspaper published by the Xinhua News Agency, on Wednesday, also noted that Kim graduated from the Department of Sociology at Seoul National University, obtained a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in the US and earned a Master of Laws degree from the School of Law at Tsinghua University in China.