President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol unveiled the list of his senior aides Sunday, as part of his campaign pledge for a slimmer presidential office comprised of the offices of two chiefs of staff and five senior secretaries. This contrasts with the incumbent Moon Jae-in administration's “three offices and eight senior secretaries.” Most notable is the appointment of Kim Sung-han, a Korea University professor and former vice foreign minister, as director of the National Security Office.
Other senior secretary appointees include former lawmaker Lee Jin-bok for political affairs, former lawmaker Kang Seung-kyoo for civil and social agenda, Hyosung Group Vice President and former SBS journalist Choi Young-bum for public relations, former Vice Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok for economic policy and Seoul National University professor Ahn Sang-hoon for social affairs.
Posts to be abolished are chief of staff for policy alongside the three senior secretaries for ― civil affairs; personnel; and employment. Rep. Chang Je-won, chief aide to President-elect Yoon, said, “The (incoming) presidential office will play the role of facilitating the Cabinet's bid to implement policies in creative and innovative manners.” In accordance with the principle, the apparatus of the presidential office and the number of relevant officials will be scaled down, Chang added during a press conference Sunday.
To tackle the possible policy loopholes arising from the downscaled presidential office, Yoon's transition team has been seeking to launch the tentatively named “civil-government joint committee” with the onset of the new administration May 10. For starters, the Office of National Security will be reborn as a new body in charge of economic security, defense innovation and cyber security to be attended by civil experts for policy debate.
Similar committees and taskforces will also be set up to deal with other national agendas. The transition team is also seeking to provide the Cabinet with more authority and responsibilities as part of efforts to minimize the defects of the “imperial” presidency. The relevant officials should engage in in-depth discussions to define the exact role and scope of the committees to prevent potential problems and facilitate policy consultation and coordination.
What is worrisome is the fortified role of the office for civil and social agenda in the name of promoting communication with the people. This is because the expansion of the office can be considered as an attempt to woo pro-government civic organizations to cope with the political disadvantage of Yoon and his People Power Party as the opposition parties dominate the 300-seat National Assembly.
Yoon has taken flak for his limited human pools in appointing the presidential secretaries, most of whom in their 60s and graduated from Seoul National University. This was also proven in Yoon's picks of “old names” from his campaign office and transition committee such as Kim Sung-han, Choi, Ahn, Kim Yong-hyun and Sungkyunkwan University professor Kim Tae-hyo as first deputy director of national security who served as security adviser for former President Lee Myung-bak.