Minister of the Interior and Safety Nominee Sang-min Lee: "Key Priority is 'Government Innovation', Organizational and Personnel Efficiency"

Minister of the Interior and Safety nominee Sang-min Lee appeared at the confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly on the 3rd and took the witness oath. Photo by Dong-joo Yoon doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Candidate for Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min identified 'government innovation' as his top priority, stating that he will efficiently manage government organizations and personnel while interlinking data dispersed across agencies at the whole-of-government level to scientificize and datafy overall national administration.

On the 3rd, Candidate Lee mentioned this during his opening remarks at the Administrative and Security Committee confirmation hearing held at the National Assembly, saying, "I feel a deep sense of responsibility as the pivotal ministry in national administration to lead innovation across the entire government, promote decentralization and regional balanced development, and ensure the safety of the people."

He particularly emphasized, "I will efficiently manage government organizations and personnel through diagnosis and reallocation of government organizations," adding, "I will also streamline unnecessary committees."

He also pledged to work on decentralization and building a safe Republic of Korea. Candidate Lee said, "I will delegate tasks and authority so that regions can develop independently according to their conditions and support customized special cases," and added, "I will strengthen communication through central-local cooperation meetings."

He continued, "I will promote regional balanced development policies tailored to regional circumstances such as super metropolitan mega cities, small but strong cities, and depopulated areas to revitalize regions," adding, "To support balanced development, I will enhance fiscal balance between the state and local governments and among local governments, and improve transparency and core effectiveness of cash welfare and local subsidy projects."

He also presented his vision for a digital national disaster management system. Candidate Lee stated, "As new and complex disasters continue to occur, the need to strengthen the nation's disaster prevention and response capabilities is growing," and said, "I will establish a digital national disaster management system based on information and communication technology that can accurately predict disasters in advance and respond swiftly."

He further explained, "I will strive for practical disaster recovery so that disaster victims can restore their previous lives," and added, "I will continue to cooperate with local governments in responding to COVID-19 to achieve a stable return to daily life."

Meanwhile, he addressed criticisms regarding his lack of administrative experience. Candidate Lee said, "The expertise and policy capabilities I have accumulated through activities in the judiciary and government agencies, as well as my commitment to fairness and justice, will be valuable assets in performing the duties of Minister of the Interior and Safety."

Candidate Lee is a high school and university classmate of President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, and his only administrative experience was serving as Vice Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission during the Park Geun-hye administration.

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