[Profile] Kim Yong-hyun, Nominee for Minister of National Defense... Leading Yongsan Relocation

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 12th, President Yoon Suk-yeol nominated Kim Yong-hyun, the head of the Presidential Security Service, as the new Minister of National Defense candidate. Kim joined Yoon's campaign team as a foreign affairs and security policy advisor during the August 2021 presidential primary. He served as the chairman of the defense policy subcommittee within the party's election committee. After the presidential election, he was active in the transition team's Blue House relocation task force, leading the decision to move the presidential office to the Yongsan Ministry of National Defense building.

Kim graduated from the 38th class of the Korea Military Academy and held key positions such as commander of the Capital Defense Command and chief of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at one point being considered a strong candidate for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, he retired from the military as a major general in 2017. He is also one year senior to President Yoon at Chung-Ang High School. He was appointed head of the Presidential Security Service shortly after the government was inaugurated. Since the beginning of the Yoon administration, he had been regarded as the top candidate for director of the National Intelligence Service. Kim, considered one of President Yoon's closest aides, became embroiled in controversy after it was revealed that he had multiple phone calls with then-Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-seop shortly after the Marine Corps investigation unit transferred the investigation results of Corporal Chae's death case to the police.

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