Yoon Appoints Park Min-sik as Minister and Yoon Jong-jin as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs

Former Overseas Koreans Consul General Lee Gi-cheol Appointed as First Head of Overseas Koreans Office

President Yoon Suk-yeol appointed Park Min-sik, Director of the National Veterans Affairs Office, as the inaugural Minister of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs on the 2nd. The term begins on the 5th. President Yoon also appointed Yoon Jong-jin, Deputy Director of the National Veterans Affairs Office, as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

The newly appointed Minister Park graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Diplomacy, passing both the Foreign Service Exam and the Bar Exam consecutively. After serving as a special prosecutor, he entered politics in 2008 and served as a member of the 18th and 19th National Assembly. Earlier, the National Assembly passed an amendment to the Government Organization Act in February to elevate the National Veterans Affairs Office to the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.

Park Min-sik, the newly appointed Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs.
[Photo by the Presidential Office]

The new Vice Minister Yoon is a former bureaucrat from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. He graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in Public Administration and entered public service in 1991 after passing the 34th Administrative Examination. Over more than 30 years, he developed expertise in personnel and organizational fields within the government. During the Lee Myung-bak administration, he worked as an administrative officer in the Blue House’s Office for National Policy Planning, and during the Park Geun-hye administration, he served as Secretary for Personnel Innovation.

Lee Ki-chul, former Ambassador for Overseas Koreans at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was appointed as the inaugural head of the Overseas Koreans Office, a vice-ministerial position. Lee graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Law and from the University of Wisconsin graduate school with a degree in Public Administration. He passed the Foreign Service Exam in 1985. Subsequently, he served as Director of the Overseas Koreans and Consular Affairs Bureau, Director of the Treaty Bureau, Ambassador to the Netherlands, Consul General in Los Angeles, and in May 2018, he served as Secretary General of the UNICEF Korea Committee.

Lee Ki-cheol, the newly appointed Commissioner of the Overseas Koreans Office.
[Photo by the Presidential Office]