Yoon strengthens grip on gov't through reshuffle

President Yoon Suk Yeol poses with new vice-minister level government officials during an appointment ceremony at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk Yeol held a ceremony, Monday, to grant appointment certificates to a number of minister- and vice minister-level government officials he named last week, demonstrating his trust in them and aiming to strengthen his grip on the administration.

Those who were officially appointed include five former presidential secretaries who served under Yoon until last week and have been tasked with realizing the administration's goals in the second year of the president's single, five-year term.

Yoon held the appointment ceremonies for new Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) Chairperson Kim Hong-il and 13 vice ministers and vice-minister level government officials at the presidential office.

The ACRC chairperson is a former prosecutor who was in charge of a botched investigation into a corruption case involving Busan Mutual Savings Bank along with Yoon, who was a prosecutor at the time. Kim also worked for Yoon's election camp during the 2022 presidential election.

President Yoon Suk Yeol poses with new Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Chairperson Kim Hong-il during an appointment ceremony at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Monday. Joint Press Corps

Gaining greater attention was a separate ceremony for vice ministers. So far, the prime minister has been granting appointment certificates to new vice ministers. But this time Yoon accredited them himself to show his trust in the new appointees.

Of the vice-minister level appointees, former secretary for general affairs Kim Oh-jin and ex-secretary for land, infrastructure and transport Baek Won-kug were each appointed as first and second vice ministers of transport. Former secretary for national planning Park Sung-hoon was appointed as vice minister of oceans, ex-secretary for national agenda Lim Sang-jun became vice minister of environment, former secretary for science and technology Cho Seong-kyung was appointed as first vice minister of science and ICT.

The five new vice ministers have been working with the president since the presidential transition committee, and Chief of Staff Kim Dae-ki described them as “people who have a greater understanding of President Yoon's philosophy.”

After the ceremony, Yoon had lunch with the new vice ministers and told them to “show loyalty to the country, the people and the liberal democratic Constitutional system,” while “fighting against unconstitutional cartels with vested rights.”

“Our government is an anti-cartel government,” Yoon was quoted as saying by presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon. “While totalitarianism and socialism are undermining democratic society from the outside, the ones that undermine it from within are corrupt cartels.”

Sources at the presidential office said that Yoon already had dinner with the new vice ministers, Wednesday, a day before announcing their appointment, and told them to “serve the Constitution, not the president.”

He also had lunch with them the following day and asked them to “fight resolutely against cartels of vested rights” and added that “government officials who hold hands with those cartels should be rooted out.”

The comments are in line with Yoon's recent drive aimed at rejuvenating his administration to strengthen his grip and put his political philosophy into practice.

Yoon told the new vice ministers that “some government officials who resist change and wait for the next administration should go to the National Assembly,” criticizing that some ranking government officials are passive in complying with the Yoon government's reform efforts hoping that the situation will change again if the liberal bloc wins the next presidency, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Last month, Yoon said in a Cabinet meeting that “those who are obsessed with (the previous Moon Jae-in government's) efforts to phase out nuclear power and ideological environmental policies” should be sidelined and picked his industrial policy secretary as the second vice minister of industry.

After Yoon appointed his secretary as vice minister of environment this time, the industry and environment ministries were reshuffled to better fulfill the president's policy of supporting the nuclear power industry and enhancing the transparency of nationwide subsidy programs for solar power.

In line with those moves, all grade 1 civil servants at the Ministry of Environment reportedly tendered their resignations recently. Grade 1 is the highest in the nine-grade civil servant system in Korea. Above them are vice minister-level positions.