Continuing the conversation about the team of the President-elect of the Republic of Korea, we’ll discuss those persons whom he expects to be members of the government, since the relevant announcements have been made.
It is expected that at least at the end of April, 18 candidates for the ministerial offices will undergo parliamentary hearings on the approval of their official appointments. Of course, the Democratic party has a majority, but it is only the Prime Minister who needs to be approved by the parliament. The President may appoint the rest of the cabinet without parliamentary approval, although this is considered ill-mannered (nevertheless, both Park Geun-hye and Moon Jae-in resorted to this practice).
The 72-year-old Han Duck-soo was proposed as Prime Minister, who has a very active biography. Originally from Jeongju, North Jeolla Province, he worked in Kim Dae-jung’s administration as a senior secretary for Economic Affairs from 1998-2003. Under Roh Moo-hyun’s administration in 2003-08, he served as Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, and then Prime Minister, and under Lee Myung-bak he was ambassador to the United States.
Given that Han is a native of Jeolla and worked for former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun, it will be more difficult for the Democratic Party to resist a person from “their” region.
Naturally, the Democrats have already started looking for a reason to “turn him down” – the most likely excuse is that, from December 2017 to 2022, he received a total of about 1.8 billion won (1.46 million US dollars) as an adviser to the Kim & Chang law firm.
In any case, it is worth remembering that in the Republic of Korea, the Prime Minister is largely a technical position, whose task is often to resign, taking responsibility for another crisis. Few prime ministers have held this post for more than two years.
The office of Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Planning and Finance will be occupied by the member of the National Assembly from the People Choo Kyung-ho Party, Choo Kyung-ho, who headed the coordination and planning department in the Commission for the admission of powers.
Choo Kyung-ho is known for his experience and knowledge in the field of economic and financial policy development and has spent more than 30 years of his career as a civil servant. In 1999-2002, he worked as a senior economist at the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and in 2006-2009 he served as an adviser at the South Korean representative office with the OECD. In 2010, President Lee Myung-bak appointed Choo the President’s Secretary for Economic and Financial Affairs. In 2013, Choo was appointed First Deputy Minister of Finance, and in 2014, during the government of Park Geun-hye, he was promoted to head the Public Policy Coordination Department at the Prime Minister’s Office. In 2016 and 2020, he was elected to Parliament and he is the deputy leader of the parliamentary faction “People Power”.
Lee Jong-seop, a retired Lieutenant General and former Deputy Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2017-2018, will become the Minister of Defense. Previously, he served as Deputy Head of the Policy and Planning Department of the Ministry of Defense.
Lee Jong-seop is an expert in the field of military policy and strategy, focusing on issues of the alliance between South Korea and the United States, and he can be considered a pro-American hawk. So, on April 11, 2022, Lee said that the armed forces have no reason to exist without normal training, which was unequivocally regarded as an indication that under him the scale of joint exercises of the United States and the Republic of Korea (and hence the overall level of annual escalation) would increase. When asked whether he would discuss with Washington the idea of deploying US strategic military forces in the Republic of Korea “to deter North Korean provocations,” Lee said that the decision would depend on the future course of action of the North.
The 66-year-old Park Jin, a graduate of the Law Faculty of Seoul National University and a member of the National Assembly of four convocations, who has experience in diplomatic work in the 1970s, is nominated as Minister of Foreign Affairs. From 2008 to 2010, Park served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Affairs, Trade and National Unification, and also headed the Korean-American Parliamentary Association. During this period, he met with the then-Chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joe Biden and helped pass a free trade agreement between South Korea and the United States.
Park Jin has already paid a visit to the United States as a special envoy and on April 5 he visited the White House, where he met with the US President’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and conveyed a personal message from the future head of the Republic of Korea, in which Yoon urged the American side to bring relations between Seoul and Washington to the level of a comprehensive strategic alliance in order to jointly respond to new challenges, including the North Korean nuclear issue and economic security.
As for Yoon’s longtime friend and former deputy Foreign Minister Kim Sung-han (also an ardent supporter of ties with the United States), he is the most likely candidate for the post of National Security Adviser to the President.
Kwon Young-se, a 63-year-old former prosecutor and member of the National Assembly of four convocations, who back in the day convinced Yoon to join the “People Power”, was nominated for the position of Minister for Reunification. In 2010, Kwon was chair of the Parliamentary Intelligence Committee, and in 2013-2015, during the reign of President Park Geun-hye, he was the ambassador of the Republic of Korea to China. Now he is the deputy head of the Commission for the assumption of presidential powers.
Kwon is not a hawk on North Korea, and thus the Yoon administration leaves the door open for inter-Korean talks, but this does not mean that he is a follower of Moon’s line. So, on April 14, Kwon Young-se said that inter-Korean relations will be difficult to normalize as long as North Korea continues to advance its nuclear developments. The South cannot constantly give the North “carrots” while it refuses dialogue, but will try to find an option for communication although it won’t be easy. It is also known that Kwon Young-se is an opponent of the law that prohibits sending propaganda leaflets to the DPRK, considering it inconsistent with democratic principles and principles of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.
The office of Minister of Justice is destined to Han Dong-hoon, a long-time colleague and associate of Yoon, with whom he has worked together for almost two decades in the investigations of many high-profile cases. During the government of Lee Myung-bak, Han worked in the presidential office for about three years, he then returned to the prosecutor’s office and since 2016, together with Yoon, led investigations into former presidents Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak. When Yoon held the office of attorney general, Han’s career also advanced at first. But then, after leading an investigation into corruption allegations involving the then-Minister of Justice Cho Kuk and his family, he was demoted to minor positions. Moreover, it was only on April 6 that Han Dong-hoon was acquitted of involvement in the alleged blackmail for lack of evidence.
This is a very important appointment, since, as we know, this ministerial post allows to control all law enforcement agencies, courts and the prosecutor’s office. This also means that the initiative of the Democratic Party of Korea to reform the Korean Prosecutor’s Office in order to separate its investigative and prosecutorial powers will be terminated under him. That is why the choice of Han for the office of head of the Ministry of Justice turned out to be the most contested choice and caused a negative reaction from the Democratic Party. However, the conservative media JoongAng Ilbo also notes that Han’s candidacy is incompatible with the President-elect’s intention to eliminate the post of Senior Secretary of the President for Civil Affairs in the presidential office: Yun promised to transfer this function to the Ministry of Justice and Police. But if Han takes the post of Justice Minister, it could be interpreted as an attempt to launch political retaliation against President Moon and his government.
Won Hee-ryong became the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. This post is important from the point of view of the sensitive problem of the real estate market, and it was entrusted to a very peculiar person. Won Hee-ryong entered politics after a brief stint as a prosecutor in 1995-98. In 2000, he won a seat in parliament from the Conservative Party, in 2014 he won the governor’s race on Jeju Island, and was successfully re-elected for the next term in 2018. Back in 2007, Won ran in the party’s presidential primaries and took third place. In 2021, he ranked fourth after Yoon Seok-yeol, Hong Joon-pyo and Yoo Seong-min, after which he joined Yoon’s campaign as head of the political department, and then as head of the planning department in the commission on the assumption of presidential powers.
During the election campaign, Won received recognition for leading the campaign against the “Seongnam Gate”, in which Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, was accused of involvement.
It is believed that Won is well versed in the policy of easing various rules related to real estate introduced during the administration of Moon Jae-in. According to him, his priority as Minister of Land Resources is to stabilize housing conditions for low-income and middle-class people and work to allow the younger generation, who have lost their dreams, to be able to dream of a better future again.
Finally, we note the Minister for Family and Gender Equality – the 55-year-old Kim Hyun-suk: as we can see, Yoon has not yet decided to disband Ministry of Gender Equality. The active opposition of society, which believes that the abolition of the ministry will mean complete inattention to the relevant issues, as well as the desire of Yoon to avoid clashes with the National Assembly, where the Democratic Party has an overwhelming majority, brought fruit. The reorganization of the Government can be performed only through the adoption of appropriate legislation.
During Park Geun-hye’s tenure, Kim served as Senior Secretary to the President for Employment and Social Welfare. In this capacity, she promoted labor reform legislation and developed policies in the interests of women. In 2017, Kim returned to teach economics at Soongsil University, and after Yoon’s election, she was appointed Special Policy Advisor.
Let us dwell now on to the less significant appointments.
The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism is Park Bo-gyoon, an experienced journalist and former vice president of the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, who has worked for this conservative newspaper for more than four decades.
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Resources will be headed by Professor Lee Chang-yang, known for his expertise in economics and policy development with a focus on technological innovation.
The Minister of Health and Social Welfare is Chung Ho-young, former head of Gyeongbuk State University Hospital, a veteran surgeon with 37 years of experience and a close friend of Yoon for 40 years.
Former Rector of Hanguk University of Foreign Languages and Chairman of the Korean Political Studies Association Kim In-chul has been appointed Minister of Education and Vice Premier for Social Affairs.
Lee Sang-min, who served as a judge and then as vice-chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, was appointed Minister of Internal Affairs and Security.
Han Hwa-jin, an honorary researcher at the Korean Institute of the Environment with experience in the field of air pollution and climate change, has been appointed Minister of Ecology. Han was one of the founders of the Korea Institute of the Environment and worked there as a researcher for 23 years.
The leading post in the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries was given to the former Director of the Korea Institute of Marine Science and Technology Promotion (KIMST) Cho Seung-hwan.
Chung Hwang Keu, who previously worked as the head of the Rural Development Department and adviser to the President on Agriculture, was appointed Minister of Food, Agriculture and Forestry. During the previous administration, Chung was the President’s Secretary for Agriculture, focusing on the modernization of the country’s agricultural sector.
The President-elect appointed Kim Dae-gi, an experienced technocrat specializing in economic policy development and budget planning, as the First Chief of Staff. 66-year-old Kim has held various positions in the Ministry of Finance since 1978, from 2012 to 2013 he was the head of the National Statistical agency under the administration of Lee Myung-bak. He also served as the President’s Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs from 2011 to 2013.
This seems to raise the question of where the current Chief of Staff Chang Je-won has gone to. Initially, it was assumed that the current head of Yoon’s staff would retain his position after the inauguration on May 10, but, according to Chang, he is going to return to parliamentary activity. An active member of parliament is no less valuable given that the Democratic Party of Korea holds 172 out of 300 seats, and the “People Power” – 110. Here, every mandate matters.
Perhaps it is also the fact that at the same time his son, the famous rapper NO:EL, received a prison sentence for refusing to take a breathalyzer test after an accident and assaulting a police officer last year. In such a situation, although even the Democratic Party did not accuse his father of trying to influence the court’s decision, the elder Chang apparently decided to stay in the shadows.
According to Yoon Seok-yeol, the only criterion for choosing ministers was their ability to take responsibility for the areas of work assigned to them. But if we take into account the regional or gender balance, the government is mainly composed of men aged 50 to 60 who are natives of the provinces of South and North Gyeongsang. Most of the candidates served under past conservative governments.
Here are some conclusions. Yoon has indeed recruited competent specialists, and it is clear that in preparation to potential factional wars, he appoints those he trusts, which is why the number of law school graduates or colleagues of Yoon in the prosecutor’s office is quite large. There are also no obvious corruption scandals, although as we approach the discussion in parliament, stories like “seven years ago his nephew avoided paying a public transport fare – how can such a person be a minister!” will still pop up.
However, bias is often added to competence, which makes it safe to assume that inter-Korean relations are highly likely to return to the level of 2015-2017. In addition, the new administration will “reverse” other odious projects of the previous one, including the reform of the prosecutor’s office, which the Democratic Party has been literally trying to push through parliament in recent days.
The split of society is also not going away, and if Moon’s rating in the first days was 70+%, about half of the respondents wish Yoon success. Therefore, this presidency will certainly be no less exciting season of the “South Korean Game of Thrones” than the previous episodes.
Konstantin Asmolov, PhD in History, leading research fellow at the Center for Korean Studies of the Institute of the Far East at the Russian Academy of Sciences, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.