An Min-seok "Jang Mi-ran as Vice Minister? Nonsense" Park Ji-won "Why Can't an Athlete Be Vice Minister?"

"Jang Miran Silent on Sports Issues" vs "Most Outstanding among Yoon Government Personnel"

There are divided opinions within the opposition regarding the appointment of Jang Miran, a former national weightlifting representative, as the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Min-seok criticized the appointment as inappropriate, questioning what Jang has done "for the sports community." On the other hand, former National Intelligence Service Director Park Ji-won stated, "Why can't a weightlifting athlete serve as the vice minister in charge of sports?" and praised it as "the most outstanding personnel decision by Yoon Seok-yeol."

Jang Mi-ran, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, salutes the national flag while attending the Cabinet meeting held at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the morning of the 3rd.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In a Facebook post on the 2nd, former Director Park argued that "Vice Minister Jang served the country as a weightlifting athlete and continued social service as a university professor after retirement," asserting that she is fully qualified for the position.

Earlier, lawmaker Ahn said, "The Presidential Office stated that the reason for appointing her as vice minister was that she is the right person to realize fairness and common sense in sports," but added, "Unfortunately, there is no trace of Jang making efforts for the reform and advancement of Korean sports, such as unifying sports organizations, normalizing school sports, fostering sports clubs, or eradicating corruption in the sports world. Nor has she ever shown leadership to resolve the pressing issues and conflicts in the sports community."

He continued, "Even when the sports world and the entire country were in turmoil in 2019 due to the Me Too case of short track skater Shim Suk-hee and the death of athlete Choi Sook-hyun, Vice Minister Jang remained silent. She has never raised her voice for improving athletes' human rights," and argued, "It is absurd to appoint Jang, who has neither made significant efforts to realize fairness and common sense in sports nor faced reality, for the sake of fairness and common sense in the sports community."

He added, "I hope Vice Minister Jang lives up to her name, but concerns outweigh expectations," and said, "It is unfortunate that sports heroes like athlete Jang, following swimmer Choi Yoon-hee, are being politically exploited." Previously, swimmer Choi Yoon-hee was also appointed as the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in December 2019 during the Moon Jae-in administration.

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