President Yoon Appoints Park Jin as Foreign Minister and Lee Sang-min as Minister of the Interior (Update)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] President Yoon Suk-yeol appointed Foreign Minister Park Jin and Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min on the 12th.

A presidential office official stated that President Yoon approved the appointment of Minister Park and Minister Lee at his office in the Yongsan Presidential Office building on the same day.

On the morning of the 12th, while heading to the Yongsan Presidential Office building, President Yoon was asked by reporters about his plan to appoint ministers whose confirmation reports had not been adopted. He briefly replied, "Well, only some today."

On his inauguration day, President Yoon appointed seven ministers including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho, Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho, Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup, Minister of Environment Han Hwa-jin, Minister of Employment and Labor Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeong Hwang-geun, and Minister of Oceans and Fisheries Cho Seung-hwan.

With this, nine out of the total 18 ministries now have a 'new minister system' in place.

Earlier, on the inauguration day, the president requested the National Assembly to resend confirmation reports for the nominees of Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Ho-young, and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-gyun, but the National Assembly has not sent the reports for these nominees.

President Yoon appointed Minister Park and Minister Lee to meet the requirement of having 11 Cabinet members ahead of the extraordinary Cabinet meeting scheduled in the afternoon to discuss the supplementary budget (추경).

The presidential office's position is to wait for the National Assembly's adoption of the reports as much as possible, but it is inevitable to push forward appointments for ministries with urgent issues.

In a meeting with reporters, a presidential office official said, "What we consider important is that state affairs continue without any gaps," adding, "The economic situation is difficult now, the South Korea-US summit is approaching, and the election is just around the corner. There are many things to be done, so the president seems to think that the Cabinet meeting should be held in some form."

He continued, "Even former ministers are believed to cooperate to ensure that the lives of the people improve and that there is no gap in state affairs."

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