Candidate Kim Yong-hyun Assumes Office as Minister of National Defense Today

Opposition Party Continues 'Chungampa' Allegations
Military: "No Dinner Gatherings Among Alumni of Specific Schools"

Kim Yong-hyun (65, Korea Military Academy Class 38), the nominee for Minister of National Defense, will take office as the Minister of National Defense in his 50s on the afternoon of the 6th.

Defense Minister nominee Kim Yong-hyun is speaking at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 2nd. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

Kim, who will become the third Minister of National Defense under the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, is scheduled to receive his appointment letter from President Yoon, the supreme commander of the armed forces, and hold an inauguration and handover ceremony with Minister Shin Won-sik at the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense building in the afternoon.

The opposition party repeatedly raised suspicions about 'Chungam High School,' from which Kim graduated. Bu Seung-chan, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, claimed, "Minister Lee Sang-min visited the Counterintelligence Command, held a briefing on the unit's status, and openly dined with colonels and lieutenant colonels from Chungam High School who belong to the Counterintelligence Command."

In response, a senior military official said, "On March 20, the Minister of the Interior and Safety and the head of the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters officially visited the Counterintelligence Command to discuss strengthening cooperation between the Counterintelligence Command and the police following the abolition of the National Intelligence Service's counterintelligence investigation authority." He added, "All attendees dined together at the Counterintelligence Command's unit hall until 8 p.m., so the claim that only colonels and lieutenant colonels from a specific school, the Minister of the Interior and Safety, and the Counterintelligence Command commander had dinner is a lie."