Yoon's Side: "Science Education Chief Recognizes Necessity but Says It's Not the Right Time to Establish" (Update)

Jang Je-won Elected Chief Secretary "Willing to Build a Humble Presidential Office... Will Consider If Demands Increase"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has ultimately decided not to create a Chief of Science Education position within the Presidential Office. The reason is the promised streamlining of the Presidential Office by President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol. The Chief of Science Education was a position earnestly requested by Ahn Cheol-soo, the chairman of the Presidential Transition Committee, to President-elect Yoon.

On the 1st, Jang Je-won, the chief secretary to the president-elect, announced the personnel appointments under the structure of two offices (Secretariat and National Security Office) and five chiefs (Economy, Society, Political Affairs, Public Relations, and Civil Society) within the Presidential Office. Regarding the absence of the Chief of Science Education, he explained, "It is not that we do not recognize the importance of science and education, but it is not the right time to create a separate Chief of Science Education position." He added, "There have been continuous demands to establish direct agencies under the Presidential Office in various departments and regions, but the Yoon Seok-yeol administration wants to build a humble Presidential Office."

However, he stated, "The Presidential Office can expand or reduce positions as needed," and "If public demand for a science and technology chief increases during our administration, we will consider it."

The policy of streamlining the Presidential Office was reiterated. Chief Secretary Jang said, "The personnel will be assigned efficiently to create a small but strong and agile Presidential Office," and emphasized, "The principle of going slim remains unchanged."

Meanwhile, through the announcement of the Blue House personnel appointments on the same day, Chief Secretary Jang revealed that Kim Seong-han, a professor at Korea University Graduate School of International Studies (former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs), was appointed as the Director of the National Security Office. Kim Tae-hyo, former Blue House Director of External Strategic Planning, was appointed as the first deputy director of the National Security Office, and Shin In-ho, former Blue House Crisis Management Secretary, was appointed as the second deputy director. Kim Yong-hyun, former Operations Headquarters Chief at the Ministry of National Defense, was selected as the head of the Presidential Security Service.

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