President Yoon Suk-yeol, Ahead of Next Month's ROK-US Summit
Moves to Replace Diplomatic Line Including Resignation of Foreign Secretary Lee Moon-hee
Presidential Office "Unfounded" Damage Control
With major diplomatic events such as the South Korea-US summit on the 28th of next month and the Group of Seven (G7) summit scheduled, attention is focused on the background as the presidential office's diplomatic lineup is being replaced one after another. Following the resignation of Foreign Affairs Secretary Lee Moon-hee, there are also speculations about the possible replacement of Kim Sung-han, the Director of the National Security Office, raising observations that there might have been mistakes in coordinating the schedule and agenda for President Yoon Seok-yeol's state visit to the United States. However, the presidential office denies this and is trying to contain the spread of controversy.
According to ruling party sources on the 28th, there is talk that the presidential office is considering replacing Director Kim, who has overseen the Yoon administration's foreign and security policies. Kim, who served as the 2nd Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade during the Lee Myung-bak administration, is an alumnus of Daekwang Elementary School with President Yoon and was known as Yoon's 'foreign and security tutor' during the presidential campaign.
Inside and outside the presidential office, there are evaluations that mistakes may have occurred during the coordination of the schedule and agenda related to President Yoon's state visit to the US, such as omissions of official documents or requests from the US side, and the failure to report real-time messages from foreign leaders. In particular, regarding Director Kim, there are also speculations that his views on major foreign and security issues, including responses to North Korean drones, may not have aligned with President Yoon's intentions beyond the US visit schedule.
In this regard, some see the possibility that the diplomatic and security lineup may be reshuffled, as Protocol Secretary Kim Il-beom voluntarily resigned just before the Korea-Japan summit on the 16th, followed by the replacement of Secretary Lee, and now the consideration of replacing Director Kim.
Regarding the replacement of Secretary Lee, who attended the expanded Korea-Japan summit on the 16th, a presidential office official stated, "Secretary Lee is a Foreign Ministry official subject to rotational assignment and has been under heavy workload for a year since President Yoon took office," but the sudden replacement at a time just before the state visit to the US and the G7 summit is considered unusual.
There are also expectations that around the first anniversary of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, a large-scale personnel reshuffle of the presidential office will take place, starting with the foreign and security lineup.
On the other hand, presidential office officials are trying to quell the controversy by saying that replacing the Director of the National Security Office, who is responsible for the presidential office's foreign and security affairs, ahead of major diplomatic issues is unreasonable. A presidential office official also denied hearing about the possibility of Director Kim's replacement. Kim Dae-gi, Chief of Staff to the President, reportedly said "groundless" regarding the possibility of Director Kim's replacement during a meeting with aides on the same day.
Meanwhile, Director Kim did not attend a lecture scheduled for 9 a.m. for heads of overseas diplomatic missions but did attend the Cabinet meeting held at 10 a.m., which was broadcast live.
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