The Nominee Shin Beom-cheol Appointed as Deputy Minister of National Defense

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Shin Beom-cheol, head of the Foreign Affairs and Security Center at the Korea Institute for Economic and Social Affairs (KIESA) and a professional committee member of the transition team, has been appointed as the Deputy Minister of National Defense. Shin, the appointed deputy minister, also served as the chief secretary of the Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Headquarters of the People Power Party's election campaign headquarters.

He played a key advisory role in shaping major issues emphasized by President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, such as the South Korea-US alliance, preemptive strike policy against North Korea, and additional deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. Shin also proposed the establishment of a New Security Committee under the Prime Minister's Office, raising the possibility of joining the Presidential Secretariat.

Since his appointment to the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) in 1995, Shin has pursued a career as a professional researcher. He served as a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy before resigning and then worked as a senior research fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a private research institute. From 2008 to 2010, he was an advisory member of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs, Unification and Trade Committee. During the Lee Myung-bak administration in 2009, he served as the policy advisor to the Minister of National Defense, and from 2013 to 2016 under the Park Geun-hye administration, he was the Director of Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He is also the head of the People Power Party’s Cheonan Gap district party committee. In 2020, he ran as the United Future Party (now People Power Party) candidate for the National Assembly election in the Cheonan Gap constituency but was defeated.

▲ Daejeon (age 52) ▲ Chungnam National University Law School ▲ Director of Defense Policy Research at Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA) ▲ Advisory Member of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs, Unification and Trade Committee ▲ Policy Advisor to the Minister of National Defense ▲ Director of Policy Planning at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ▲ Professor at Korea National Diplomatic Academy ▲ Head of Security and Unification Center at Asan Institute for Policy Studies ▲ Candidate for the 21st National Assembly election (Cheonan Gap, Chungnam, United Future Party) ▲ President and Head of Foreign Affairs and Security Center at Korea Institute for Economic and Social Affairs ▲ Secretary of the Global Vision Committee of the People Power Party’s 20th Presidential Election Central Campaign Committee