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President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol enters the presidential transition committee office in Tongui-dong, Jongno District, Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps |
President-elect picks 19 presidential secretaries
By Nam Hyun-woo
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday announced the appointments of 19 secretaries who will assist his administration. He also announced the creation of a new office for policy coordination and plans to pursue synergy in various government policies.
According to the spokesperson of the president-elect, Yoon named six secretaries under the senior secretary for economic affairs, two under the senior secretary for political affairs, four under the policy coordination and planning office and seven under the chief of staff.
It was the first round of nominations for secretary-level aides, and Yoon will finish naming the others by Sunday, the spokesperson's office said in a statement.
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From left are presidential policy coordination and planning officer nominee Jang Sung-min, secretary for planning nominee Park Sung-hoon, secretary for speechwriting nominee Kim Dong-jo and secretary for future strategy nominee Kim Yoon-il. Yonhap |
Of them, the new office for policy coordination stands out as noteworthy.
Yoon's current chief of staff Chang Je-won said the new office will be "in charge of collecting medium- and long-term policy tasks explored by policymaking departments, coordinating short-term tasks and preparing Yoon's schedules and messages."
The new office will be led by Jang Sung-min, Yoon's special adviser for political affairs. Jang served as a political affairs secretary during the liberal Kim Dae-jung administration in the late 1990s, but helped Yoon's campaign, providing advice to the conservative president-elect.
With Jang heading the new office as policy coordination officer, which is a senior secretary-level job, Park Sung-hoon, an economic adviser of the president-elect, will become secretary for planning. Kim Dong-jo, head of Velocity Investors & Company and the current speechwriter for Yoon, was named as secretary for speechwriting, and Kim Yoon-il, former Busan vice mayor for economic affairs, was tapped as the future strategy secretary who will be in charge of Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo.
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Clockwise from left, secretary for general affairs nominee Yoon Jae-soon, protocol secretary nominee Kim Il-bum, secretary for government tasks nominee Lim Sang-jun, secretary for legal affairs nominee Joo Jin-woo, secretary for public office discipline nominee Lee Si-won and secretary for state affairs monitoring nominee Han Oh-seop. Courtesy of office of president-elect's spokesperson |
For secretaries supporting the presidential chief of staff, former prosecution officials made their presence felt, reflecting Yoon's background as former prosecutor general.
Yoon Jae-soon, former head of the management and support division at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, was selected as secretary for general affairs. Lee Si-won, a former prosecutor at Suwon District Prosecutors' Office, was tapped as secretary for public office discipline.
Also under the chief of staff, Kim Il-bum, former vice president of the SK Supex Council Global Growth Committee, will be protocol secretary, and Lim Sang-jun, director of planning and coordination policy at the Office of Government Policy Coordination, will be secretary for government tasks.
Under the senior secretary for political affairs, former lawmaker Hong Ji-man will be secretary for political affairs and North Chungcheong Province Vice Governor Seo Seung-woo will become secretary for self-governing and administration.
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From left are secretary for economy and finance nominee Kim Byung-hwan, secretary for industry policy nominee Kang Kyung-sung, secretary for SMEs and startups nominee Kim Seong-seop, secretary for agriculture and oceans Kim Jeong-hee, secretary for land and trasport nominee Baek Won-gook and secretary for science and technology nominee Cho Seong-kyung. Yonhap |
Economy-related secretaries were drafted from bureaucrats who are currently in related positions.
Kim Byung-hwan, director of the Ministry of Economy and Finance's economic policy bureau, was named as economy and finance secretary. Kang Kyung-sung, head of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy's office of energy and resources, was picked as industry policy secretary. And Kim Seong-seop, director general for regional business policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, will be SMEs and startups secretary.
Kim Jeong-hee from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs will be secretary for agriculture and oceans. Baek Won-gook from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will be secretary for land and transport. For the science and technology secretary post, Myongji University professor Cho Seong-kyung was chosen.