Yoon's First Cabinet Reshuffle Message: "Fight Against the Interest Cartel"

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President Yoon Suk-yeol, after carrying out his first cabinet reshuffle since taking office on the 29th, urged the vice minister nominees to "boldly confront and fight against predatory interest cartels." On the morning of the same day, President Yoon appointed a total of 15 ministers and vice ministers, including nominating Professor Kim Young-ho of Sungshin Women’s University as Minister of Unification.

According to the Presidential Office, President Yoon met with the vice minister nominees and instructed them to "carry out their duties as senior public officials serving the people." In this personnel reshuffle, Kim Oh-jin, Secretary for Management, and Baek Won-guk, Secretary for Land, Infrastructure and Transport, were appointed as the 1st and 2nd Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, respectively. Park Sung-hoon, Secretary for National Planning, was appointed Vice Minister of Oceans and Fisheries; Lim Sang-jun, Secretary for National Tasks, was appointed Vice Minister of Environment; and Cho Sung-kyung, Secretary for Science and Technology, was appointed Vice Minister of Science and ICT.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

In particular, President Yoon emphasized, "Rights and positions obtained through legitimate compensation are different from interests acquired by forming exclusive cartels among insiders, which amounts to plundering the people." He added, "Breaking these cartels is the direction of our government’s administration and what we can offer to the people." He further stated, "Ignoring these cartels and presenting policies as being for the people is nothing but empty talk. Interest cartels rush in to undermine policies and cause improper actions during actual implementation. When you enter public service, watch closely for cartels that enjoy vested interests while harming the people in relation to your duties."

'Cartel reform' is a key precondition President Yoon has identified for achieving reform tasks. He has consistently pointed out issues such as the previous administration’s renewable energy subsidy projects, government grants to civic groups, and private education interests. The intent is to break vested interests and support governance based on fairness and common sense. At this occasion, President Yoon also said, "Corrupt interest cartels are always superficially well-packaged. Public officials who ignore or collude with them must be strictly punished without mercy." He continued, "Although public officials may fear confronting them, those who take responsibility to break vested interests and work for the people and national interest should be highly evaluated and promoted."

Moreover, this day marked the anniversary of President Yoon’s political participation declaration two years ago. At that time, he held a press conference stating, "We must reclaim the sovereignty of the people that was taken away." He declared his political participation 118 days after resigning as Prosecutor General amid conflicts with the Moon Jae-in administration over prosecutorial reform and personnel issues. President Yoon said, "I will start from the great people and their common sense. With common sense as my weapon, I will resolutely restore the values of freedom democracy and the rule of law that have collapsed, and the value of fairness that transcends eras and generations."

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