President Moon's 'reign of beauty'

(From left) President Moon Jae-in, Im Jong-seok, Cho Kuk, and Choi Young-jae. / Courtesy of Yonhap, Gentle Jae-in

By Eom Da-sol

How can a government expand public welfare, especially for women, without increasing taxes? Netizens wittily suggest that President Moon Jae-in has hired "good-looking" professionals ― deliberately are coincidentally ― as the attractive public face of the new administration.

The first person responsible for the suggestion is Moon himself. Photos of the handsome younger Moon went viral on social media when his campaign camp first released them in 2012. One person commented, "He will be the first handsome president of Korea."

Im Jong-seok, the new chief of staff at the presidential residence Cheong Wa Dae, also is mentioned in comments about the government staff. Observers said he was popular around women in his 20s, with female students at Hanyang University stealing his campaign posters around the campus when he ran for school president, forcing him to have more copies printed several times.

New senior presidential civil affairs secretary Cho Kuk is also part of the "handsome brigade." Cho grabbed attention thanks to his handsome appearance and background as a professor of Seoul National University law department for more than 15 years. Cho told the Busan Daily in 2012, "I felt uncomfortable about my popularity when I was an undergraduate student. Dairy drinks or chocolate snacks were piled on my school library seat almost every day."

But out of all the new administration's good-looking members, the one most in the spotlight is Moon's bodyguard Choi Young-jae. A blog on Daum that showed his photos had more than 30,000 views. Moon's campaign office said Choi was an officer with Korea's Special Warfare Command. "He is ‘unfortunately' married and has two daughters," the office said on May 8.

Commenting about the "handsome brigade" a netizen said, "I surrender to this ‘reign of beauty' with no objections."

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