Vice Minister Yoon Sim Starts 'War on Government Performance Implementation and Interest Cartel' Instead of Inauguration Ceremony

Yoon Appoints 13 Deputy Ministers
Accelerates Implementation of Second Year Administration's National Tasks

The so-called ‘Yunsim (尹心)’ vice ministers appointed through the June 29 cabinet reshuffle will begin their official duties without an inauguration ceremony starting from the 3rd. As President Yoon Suk-yeol emphasized ‘achieving policy tasks’ and ‘war against interest cartels’ in his second year in office, the intention is to swiftly produce tangible results.

On the morning of the same day, President Yoon presented appointment letters to Kim Hong-il, the newly appointed Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and 13 newly appointed vice minister-level officials at the Freedom Hall of the Presidential Office. The appointees include Kim Wan-seop, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance; Cho Seong-gyeong, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT; Oh Young-joo, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Moon Seung-hyun, Vice Minister of Unification; Jang Mi-ran, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Han Hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Lim Sang-jun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment; Lee Seong-hee, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor; Kim Oh-jin, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Baek Won-guk, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Park Seong-hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; Oh Ki-woong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups; and Kim Chae-hwan, President of the National Human Resources Development Institute.

Among them, five are former presidential secretaries: Cho Seong-gyeong (1st Vice Minister, Science and Technology Secretary), Lim Sang-jun (Vice Minister, National Agenda Secretary), Kim Oh-jin (1st Vice Minister, Administrative Secretary), Baek Won-guk (2nd Vice Minister, Land, Infrastructure and Transport Secretary), and Park Seong-hoon (Vice Minister, National Planning Secretary).

The newly appointed vice ministers who received their appointment letters on this day are scheduled to start work immediately after a luncheon with President Yoon. This is to comply with President Yoon’s directive to carry out government tasks with speed in his second year in office.

On the day of the cabinet reshuffle announcement on the 29th of last month, President Yoon instructed the five newly appointed vice ministers who were former presidential secretaries, saying, “Be loyal to the spirit of the Constitution rather than to me,” and “Civil servants who do not move at all even though the administration has changed, and who think that if they just hold out a little longer the administration will change again, should go to the National Assembly, not the government.” He urged them to wage war against interest cartels and to implement government achievements.

From the top row, left to right: Kim Wan-seop, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance; Jo Seong-gyeong, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT; Oh Young-joo, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Moon Seung-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Unification; Jang Mi-ran, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; Han Hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Lim Sang-jun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Environment.
From the bottom row, left to right: Lee Seong-hee, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor; Kim Oh-jin, 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Baek Won-guk, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Park Seong-hoon, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries; Oh Ki-woong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups; Kim Chae-hwan, President of the National Human Resources Development Institute. [Photo by Yonhap News]

First, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, where a Yunsim vice minister has taken charge, plans to intensify efforts to resolve issues such as jeonse fraud and reverse jeonse difficulties, which President Yoon has emphasized, as well as to eradicate illegal activities by labor unions such as construction fraud. The Ministry of Environment will also expedite scientific verification in environmental impact assessments related to solar power, the Four Major Rivers Project, and the U.S. THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) base in South Korea. The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries will make thorough preparations to address the issue of Fukushima contaminated water treatment, and the Ministry of Science and ICT aims to complete the establishment of the Korea Aerospace Agency (KASA) within the year.

Within the Presidential Office, there is also a swift move to fill the vacancies left by the five secretaries who were promoted to vice ministers. The likely candidates for the new National Planning Secretary are Kang Myung-gu, Senior Administrative Officer of the Presidential Secretariat; for the National Agenda Secretary, Kim Jong-moon, Director of the Regulatory Coordination Office at the Office for Government Policy Coordination; for the Science and Technology Secretary, Choi Won-ho, Head of the KASA Establishment Promotion Team at the Ministry of Science and ICT; and for the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Secretary, Gil Byung-woo, Urban Policy Officer at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Kang Myung-gu was recruited as the first working-level staff after President Yoon’s political declaration at the end of June 2021 and served as the schedule team leader during the last presidential election. Since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, he has been regarded as a close aide coordinating the president’s schedule in the Presidential Secretariat.

Kim Jong-moon entered public service through the 37th Administrative Examination and served as a specialist on the Planning and Coordination Subcommittee of the Transition Committee. Gil Byung-woo was appointed as a public official through the 32nd Technical Examination and has achieved results in urban regeneration and smart city fields. Choi Won-ho, who passed the 28th Technical Examination, has led the establishment of KASA and has worked closely with Vice Minister Cho Seong-gyeong.

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