Kwon Young-se, Who Opposed 'Abolition of Ministry of Unification,' Nominated as Yoon's First Minister of Unification Candidate

Vice Chairman Kwon Young-se of the Transition Committee is speaking at the 5th plenary meeting held at the Transition Committee office in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 11th. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Ji-eun] Kwon Young-se, a four-term member of the People Power Party, has been nominated as the first Minister of Unification under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration.

President-elect Yoon is scheduled to announce the second cabinet lineup, including this nomination, at 2 p.m. on the 13th.

Born in 1959, he is from Seoul and graduated from Paichai High School and Seoul National University Law School. He passed the bar exam in 1983 and pursued a career as a prosecutor. He left public office after serving as deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office and opened a law practice in 1999.

He entered politics in 2002 by running as the Grand National Party (the predecessor of the People Power Party) candidate for Yeongdeungpo-eul, Seoul, in a by-election, and served four consecutive terms from the 16th to the 18th National Assembly.

After consecutive defeats in the 19th and 20th elections, he changed his constituency to Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and was re-elected to the 21st National Assembly in 2020. He has served as the party's legal support team leader, strategic planning committee chairman, Supreme Council member, and has held the position of party secretary-general three times, including during the recent presidential election.

He was the head of the central election campaign situation room during the 2012 election when former President Park Geun-hye was elected, and also served as the campaign headquarters chief in the recent presidential election, earning a reputation as a centrist "strategist."

During the Park Geun-hye administration from 2013 to 2016, he served as ambassador to China. He also chaired the Intelligence Committee in the 18th National Assembly and has contributed several columns related to German unification, such as "Kwon Young-se's Story of German Unification," demonstrating expertise in diplomacy and unification.

Notably, when a movement to abolish the Ministry of Unification arose within the party last year, he expressed his stance that "the Ministry of Unification should be maintained" and put a stop to it. On Facebook, he said, "In the early days of the MB administration, some officials said, 'After breaking down the Ministry of Unification's tasks, they can be distributed to other ministries, so abolishing the Ministry of Unification is appropriate,' which was shocking. Now that the abolition theory has resurfaced, I am bewildered."

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