President Yoon Seok-yeol held the first cabinet reshuffle in his second year in office.
President Yoon nominated Kim Young-ho먹튀검증, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, as the Minister of Unification, and appointed attorney Kim Hong-il, a former prosecutor, as the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.
Thirteen vice ministers were also replaced, and weightlifting gold medalist professor Jang Mi-ran was selected as vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Reporter Kim Min-chan reports.
◀ Report ▶
Kim Young-ho, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, has been nominated as the successor to Unification Minister Kwon Young-se.
Candidate Kim, who is classified as a hardliner on North Korea, served as secretary for unification and human rights ambassador at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Lee Myung-bak administration.
[Kim Dae-ki/Chief of the Presidential Secretary]
“When appointing the minister, I decided that he was the right person to pursue a principled North Korea policy and a consistent unification strategy.”
Lawyer Kim Hong-il was appointed as the ministerial chairperson of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.
The President’s Office explains that he is the right person to stabilize the organization as a former high prosecutor.
[Kim Hong-il/Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, nominee]
“To quickly stabilize the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission and focus on its original task of preventing corruption and rescuing the people’s rights and interests, so that it becomes a national institution trusted by the people…” Vice ministers from 11 ministries, which account for more than half of all central
ministries has also been replaced.
In particular, Jang Mi-ran, a gold medalist in weightlifting and a professor at Yongin University, was unexpectedly selected as the second vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who is in charge of sports and policy publicity.
A high-ranking official in the presidential office explained the background of the appointment, saying, “As long as I have both the field and theory, I hope it will blow a new wind into the sports world.”
The 1st and 2nd Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Environment were each forward-deployed as vice ministers, and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and the 2nd Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs were promoted internally.