Ex-vice FM to head transition team subcommittee for foreign affairs, security

Kim Sung-han, left, Kim Tae-hyo, center, and Lee Jong-sup / Yonhap

Former Vice Foreign Minister Kim Sung-han will lead a foreign affairs and security subcommittee of President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's transition team, Yoon's spokesperson said Tuesday.

Kim, a Korea University professor, is a well-known international politics scholar and served as second vice foreign minister from 2012 to 2013. He is a long-time friend of Yoon, as they went to the same elementary school, and is known as a foreign policy mentor for him.

Kim is expected to play a role in bolstering the alliance with the United States, Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said.

Two other members of the foreign policy subcommittee are Kim Tae-hyo, who served as presidential secretary on national security strategy between 2008 and 2012, and Lee Jong-sup, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Kim Tae-hyo, a Sungkyunkwan University professor, is expected to draw up North Korea policy based on reciprocity, while Lee is expected to use his expertise in defense strategy and relations with the U.S. to carry out Yoon's election pledges on national security, the spokesperson said.

Former Lt. Gen. Lee, who served as vice chairman of South Korea's top military command between 2017 and 2018, is expected to help the nation's military bolster capabilities to cope with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

Lee will also play a leading role for Yoon to fulfill his election pledges on security matters, including a normalization of joint military exercises with the U.S., according to the spokesperson.

Yoon is expected to take a hardline stance on North Korea, similar to approaches under the conservative Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations, after taking office in May.

Yoon of the conservative People Power Party won the election at a time when North Korea has shifted back to a provocative mode. Pyongyang has conducted a series of ballistic missile tests in recent months and even hinted at the possibility of launching a long-range rocket.

Yoon has voiced the need to consider a preemptive strike on North Korea in the event of an imminent threat and the deployment of more units of an advanced U.S. missile defense system, called THAAD, to counter the North's growing missile threats. (Yonhap)