Moon replaces foreign minister ahead of Biden inauguration

Presidential envoy Chung Eui-yong, left, talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a visit to Pyongyang in September 2018. While serving as the chief of the National Security Office, Chung visited Pyongyang twice as a presidential envoy in 2018, both times shortly before inter-Korean summits took place. Cheong Wa Dae highlighted Chung's special record as a negotiator with North Korea as one of the primary reasons for his Jan. 20 nomination as foreign minister. Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae

By Do Je-hae

President Moon Jae-in replaced Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha with former National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong, Wednesday, as part of a reshuffle of three ministerial posts.

The replacement of the nation's top diplomat came less than a day before new U.S. President Joe Biden is sworn in.

Replacing Kang, the longest-serving minister in Moon's Cabinet who has been there since the beginning of the administration in May 2017, Moon picked Chung who was his first NSO head.

Cheong Wa Dae underlined Chung's extensive involvement with President Moon's "peace process" and the inter-Korean summits in 2018 and a "deep understanding and insight" into diplomatic and national security issues as the background for the surprise nomination.

"Foreign Minister nominee Chung is noted for a lifetime commitment to foreign affairs and national security," Chung Man-ho, the senior presidential aide for public communication, said during a media briefing at the presidential office. "As national security advisor to the Moon government for three years, Chung negotiated and coordinated all bilateral issues with the U.S., and was among those who were the most intimately involved in the negotiations for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula and denuclearization."

Chung, who has been serving as a special adviser to Moon since stepping down as chief of the NSO in July 2020, is known to have played a key role in realizing the April 27, 2018 summit between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the border village of Panmunjeom. Prior to this first of three inter-Korean summits that year, Chung met with Kim in Pyongyang March 5 that year as a presidential envoy and also visited the U.S. a few days later to meet with then-U.S. President Donald Trump to mediate a summit between the leaders of the U.S. and the North. The first Trump-Kim summit took place a few months later in June.

"When formally appointed, I will make every effort for the Moon's government foreign policy to bear fruit and ensure that the peace process takes firm root," the foreign minister nominee said in a statement.

Experts said that Chung's nomination reflects President Moon's determination to accelerate his role as a facilitator in resuming diplomacy with North Korea in his final year in office.

"The replacement of the foreign minister coincides with the launch of the Biden administration. This reflects the determination of the current government to consistently pursue its peace process on the Korean Peninsula," Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told The Korea Times. "He served as a lawmaker during the Roh Moo-hyun administration and has an extensive network with officials involved in Korea policy within the U.S. Democratic Party. This makes him the right person to take on the role of a mediator for the peace process."

Cheong Wa Dae also said it has high expectations for Chung to improve not just the South Korea-U.S. alliance, but also relations with China, Russia, the EU and Japan. "The Biden administration places high importance on South Korea-U.S.-Japan relations. There is a big problem in South Korea-Japan relations right now, so we need to work urgently on this," Shin Yul, a professor at Myonggi University, told The Korea Times.

Kim Hyoung-zhin, new deputy director of the National Security Office (NSO) Yonhap

Later in the day, Cheong Wa Dae also announced the appointment of Kim Hyoung-zhin, a former director-general of the North American affairs bureau at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as second deputy director of the NSO.

He replaces Kim Hyun-chong who has served in the post since March 2019. The former two-time trade minister has been named a special advisor to the President on diplomatic and national security affairs, according to presidential spokesman Kang Min-seok.

"The replacement of the second deputy of the NSO is to revitalize and reorganize the diplomatic and security team in the final stages of the presidency," a presidential aide told reporters.

Moon also nominated Hwang Hee, a ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker, as culture minister and Kwon Chil-seung, another DPK lawmaker, as a replacement for SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun.

SMEs and startups minister nominee Kwon Chil-seung, a lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Yonhap

Park resigned early in the day amid wide expectation to announce her bid to run in the Seoul mayoral by-election in April.

In addition, the presidential office announce several new secretaries and vice-ministers, including Lee Jung-hee, a lawyer, as vice head of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

Culture minister nominee Hwang Hee, a ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker Yonhap