This article was originally published on Korea JoongAng Daily.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol announced eight Cabinet nominations including People Power Party (PPP) Rep. Choo Kyung-ho as finance minister Sunday.
Yoon named his picks for key Cabinet posts such as defense, land and trade during a press conference at the presidential transition committee office in Tongui-dong, central Seoul.
Choo, who will double as deputy prime minister for the economy, was a deputy floor leader of the PPP until last month and heads Yoon’s transition team’s planning and management subcommittee.
A career economic bureaucrat, Choo served as a presidential secretary for economic and financial affairs and vice chairman of the Financial Service Commission in the Lee Myung-bak administration. The Daegu native also was first vice finance minister and chief of the government policy coordination office in the Park Geun-hye administration.
Yoon said Choo “has been highly praised for his ability to plan and coordinate on national issues,” pointing to his parliamentary experience as a deputy floor leader. He added, “Based on his expertise from public service and parliamentary activities, I expect him to establish the foundation for the Korean economy to take another leap forward and enable smooth communication with the National Assembly.”
Lee Chang-yang, an economics and public policy professor at KAIST, was tapped as minister of industry, trade and energy. He got his start in that ministry and is head of the transition team’s second subcommittee for economic affairs. He served as a member of the board of SK hynix and is an outside board member of LG Display.
Retired Lt. Gen. Lee Jong-sup, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), was named defense minister.
Former Jeju Gov. Won Hee-ryong, who served as chief policymaker for Yoon’s presidential campaign and heads the planning committee for his transition team, was tapped as minister of land, infrastructure and transport. Yoon said Won has a “great understanding of real estate policy, a key area in people’s livelihoods where fairness and common sense must be restored.”
Chip expert Lee Jong-ho, director of Seoul National University’s Inter-University Semiconductor Research Center, was nominated science and ICT minister.
Dr. Chung Ho-young, former chairman of the Kyungpook National University Hospital, was tapped as health and welfare minister. He worked at the Covid-19 living treatment center in Daegu during one of Korea’s first big outbreaks in 2020.
Veteran journalist Park Bo-gyoon, a former vice president and executive editor of the JoongAng Ilbo, was named minister of culture, sports and tourism.
Kim Hyun-sook, an economics professor at Soongsil University and a former lawmaker, was named minister of gender equality and family. Yoon pledged to abolish the Gender Equality Ministry but his transition team last Thursday said it would keep the current government organizational structure for the time being. Thus, Kim is expected to review the role of the ministry and ways to wind it down.
Kim has served as Yoon’s special policy adviser, managing policies related to Korea’s low birthrate and its aging population and as a senior presidential secretary for employment and welfare in the Park administration.
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