[Exclusive] Yoojin Lee, Director of Green Transition Research Institute, Appointed as New Presidential Secretary for Climate

Climate Activist with 26 Years in Environmental Organizations
Civic Group Leader Appointed as Presidential Secretary

President Lee Jaemyung has nominated Yoojin Lee, Director of the Green Transition Research Institute, as the new Secretary for Climate, Environment, and Energy. Lee is an activist who has been involved in the environmental movement for 26 years. Following the appointment of a private sector professional as Chief of AI Future Planning, the administration has now selected a climate and environment expert with extensive experience in these issues as an aide.

According to a summary of reporting by Asia Economy on June 26, Yoojin Lee, Director of the Green Transition Research Institute, has been nominated as Secretary for Climate, Environment, and Energy under the Presidential Office's Chief of AI Future Planning. Lee began her career in 1999 at the environmental organization Green Korea United and is a well-established figure in the climate and environment sector. Since the launch of the Lee Jaemyung administration, most appointments have come from politicians, bureaucrats, or business professionals, so the selection of someone from a civic organization is particularly noteworthy.

Yoojin Lee, Director of the Green Transition Research Institute

Lee has consistently advocated for the creation of an integrated body to address climate issues. On June 11, she attended a forum hosted by the Democratic Party's Carbon Neutrality Committee, where she emphasized the need to integrate climate policy so that all ministries become part of the climate policy framework. She also proposed government restructuring centered on a Ministry of Climate and Energy or a Ministry of Climate and Economy, as well as the establishment of climate finance planning and climate finance governance. In the energy sector, she has called on the government to phase out coal and nuclear power and to expand the use of renewable energy.

Since taking office, President Lee has boldly appointed private sector experts to various positions. Among the candidates for ministers of 11 ministries and the head of the Office for Government Policy Coordination announced on June 23, Baek Kyunghoon, head of LG AI Research, was nominated as Minister of Science and ICT, and Han Seongsook, former CEO of Naver, was nominated as Minister of SMEs and Startups. On June 15, Ha Jungwoo, head of the Naver Cloud AI Innovation Center, was appointed as Chief of AI Future Planning in the Presidential Office.

Lee holds a master's degree in public policy from the KDI School of Public Policy and Management and completed her doctoral program at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies at Seoul National University. She also served as co-chair of the Green Party. During the Moon Jaein administration, she was Special Advisor for the Green New Deal to Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun, and later served as a member of the Presidential 2050 Carbon Neutrality Commission. In 2015, she received the "Environmentalist of the Year" award from the Korea Environmental Journalists Club.