Yoo Young-min Appointed as Chief Secretary to the Blue House, Shin Hyun-soo as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs (Update)

President Moon's Blue House Personnel Reshuffle... Chief of Staff from Business Background Preferred over Politicians

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] President Moon Jae-in has chosen Yoo Young-min, a former Minister of Science and ICT with a background in business, as his last Chief of Staff. Shin Hyun-soo, former Director of Planning and Coordination at the National Intelligence Service, was selected as the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs at the Blue House, who will work closely with Park Beom-gye, the newly appointed Minister of Justice, to complete prosecutorial reform.

The Blue House announced these personnel changes on the afternoon of the 31st. The Chief of Policy, a position that had drawn much attention, was excluded from this announcement. It is known that President Moon is still deliberating on the successor to Kim Sang-jo, the Chief of Policy who has tendered his resignation, after receiving multiple recommendations.

Former Minister Yoo is an ICT expert who previously served as CIO Executive Director at LG Electronics, Vice President at LG CNS, and President of POSCO Research Institute. Initially, the Chief of Staff candidates were mainly politicians such as Yang Jeong-cheol, former head of the Democratic Research Institute, Choi Jae-sung, Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, and Woo Yoon-geun, former Ambassador to Russia.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

However, with about a year and a half left in his term, President Moon appears to have set a national administration direction focused on stable economic management and creating future growth engines.

Kim Jong-ho, appointed as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs in August, will be replaced after four months by former Director Shin Hyun-soo. Kim had tendered his resignation taking responsibility for the conflict between Minister of Justice Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl.

Former Director Shin, a former prosecutor, served as the Blue House Secretary for Inspection during the Roh Moo-hyun administration. Although Lee Ho-seung, Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs, emerged as a strong candidate to succeed Chief of Policy Kim, President Moon has yet to make a decision, and the appointment is expected to be postponed until next year.

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