President Moon to Replace Nine Vice Ministers Ahead of Cabinet Reshuffle... Lee Kang-seop, Chief of Legislation Office, Choi Jong-geon, First Vice Foreign Minister, etc.
[Asia Economy Reporter Son Sun-hee] On the 14th, President Moon Jae-in appointed nine vice minister-level officials, with the Blue House stating, "This personnel reshuffle was carried out to inject new vitality into the organization through internal promotions within the public service and to achieve results in governance during the second half of the administration." It was particularly emphasized that all nine appointees are either homeowners of a single house or have no home at all.
Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for the Blue House, held a briefing at the press center in the afternoon regarding the background of the appointments, saying, "Those announced today were selected based on their work capabilities," and added, "In addition, we comprehensively considered the public's general perception that senior public officials should take the lead in realizing housing justice in our society."
Regarding this, a key Blue House official explained, "Among the nine, eight originally owned one house, and one person had an additional property received as a gift but completed its disposal on the 6th." He continued, "All five new senior secretaries at the Blue House are also single-homeowners, marking a significant change at the Blue House. Last December, there were 20 multi-homeowners, which decreased to 17 in June, and then to 8 as of the 31st of last month. As of now, only two remain," adding, "Owning one house is becoming the 'new normal' in personnel appointments."
The Blue House had explained last December that when Chief Secretary Noh Young-min first recommended the sale of multiple homes, the target number was '11.' The criterion was 'speculative overheated zones.' However, among those identified as multi-homeowners, some did not sell their properties and left the Blue House, such as former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Jo-won. Subsequently, as public sentiment on real estate worsened severely and the policy shifted to selling multiple homes regardless of region, the number of targets increased to 20. Among them, 18 have either completed the sale of multiple homes or left the Blue House through recent personnel changes.
According to the Blue House, Kim Oe-sook, Senior Secretary for Personnel Affairs, recently sold one of her two apartments and became a single-homeowner. Currently, the remaining multi-homeowners are Yeohyun-ho, Secretary for National Public Relations, and Hwang Deok-soon, Senior Secretary for Jobs, totaling two.
(From the left) Kangseop Lee, Minister of Legislation, and Jonggeon Choi, Nominee for First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (Photo by Cheongwadae)
Meanwhile, President Moon appointed Lee Kang-seop, Deputy Chief of the Legislative Affairs Office (56), as the new Chief of the Legislative Affairs Office, and Choi Jong-geon, Peace Planning Secretary of the National Security Council (NSC) at the Blue House (46), as the First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, among the nine vice minister-level appointments. This personnel reshuffle at the vice minister level took place ahead of expectations of an imminent ministerial reshuffle.
Lee Jae-young, Director of Government Innovation Organization at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (54), was appointed as the new Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety; Park Jun-young, Director of Planning and Coordination at the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (53), as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; Heo Tae-woong, President of Korea National College of Agriculture and Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (55), as Administrator of the Rural Development Administration; Kim Yong-rae, Director of Industrial Innovation Growth at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (52), as Commissioner of the Korean Intellectual Property Office; Yang Chung-mo, Fiscal Management Officer at the Ministry of Economy and Finance (57), as Administrator of the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency; Lee Nam-woo, Director of Personnel and Welfare at the Ministry of National Defense (53), as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs; and Kim Jae-shin, Secretary-General of the Fair Trade Commission (52), as Vice Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission, were each appointed.
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