Bu Seung-chan Appointed as New Spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense... Appointed After Vacancy of About 5 Months

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter]The Ministry of National Defense announced on the 4th that it has appointed Bu Seung-chan (50, retired Air Force Major) as the new spokesperson. He is a senior researcher at Yonsei University Institute for Unification Studies.

New spokesperson Bu graduated from the Air Force Academy as part of the 43rd class and retired with the rank of major. He holds a master's and doctoral degree in political science from Yonsei University. Through his connection with Moon Jung-in, the President’s Special Advisor on Unification, Diplomacy, and Security, he co-published a booklet in 2013 titled "Is the Northeast Asian Maritime Route Safe in the Gulf?"

He served as an aide to former Democratic Party lawmaker Choi Jae-chun and later as an aide to former Justice Party lawmaker Kim Jong-dae. Afterward, he worked as a policy aide in the National Assembly and served as a policy aide to Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo from November 2018 to August 2019 during the minister’s tenure. It is said that during his time as a policy aide, he contributed to the Ministry of National Defense’s first-ever expression of regret on the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the Jeju 4.3 Incident.

With Bu’s appointment, the spokesperson vacancy at the Ministry of National Defense has been resolved after five months. Since former spokesperson Choi Hyun-soo retired at the end of June, the ministry had repeatedly held open recruitments for the high-ranking public official position of spokesperson but was unable to select a successor, maintaining an acting system.

The Ministry of National Defense stated, "He possesses broad work experience and policy insight across all security fields including the executive branch, legislature, defense, diplomacy, and unification," and added, "He is evaluated as the best candidate to contribute to realizing 'Defense with the People' through healthy communication with the media."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.