By Jeon Han and Sohn JiAe
Photos = Jeon Han
May 21, 2017 | Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in has appointed new finance and foreign ministers, as well as new chief security advisors.

On May 21, President Moon visited the Chunchugwan press center at Cheong Wa Dae and said, “I am here today to announce to the nation my picks for new ministers and top aides in charge of economy, foreign affairs and security.”

The picks included a deputy prime minister and minister of strategy and finance, a foreign minister, a new chief of the National Security Office, a new chief of staff for policy, two special envoys on security and diplomatic issues, and, lastly, a vice chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council.



The president nominated Kim Dong Yeon, president of Ajou University, as the new finance minister, Chang Ha-sung, currently Korea University professor, as the new chief of staff for policy, and director of the Institute for the Future of State (IFS) Kim Gwang-du, as the new vice chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council.

“Although I have no personal connection with the nominee as finance minister, I’ve chosen him because I believe from his amazing transformation from being a child who lived in an unauthorized shack near the Cheonggyecheon Stream and had to provide for his family into a successful official who served as former vice finance minister and then presidential chief of staff for the Cabinet Office that he has a better ability than anyone else to understand difficulties among the public,” said President Moon. “And I believe that Kim is the right person for the post since he is a competent economic official who has proved his macro-level insight into and ability to control the economy while taking many important posts, in particular, at the Ministry of Planning and Budget and at the Ministry of Strategy and Finance,” he continued.

Introducing his new chief of staff for policy, Chang Ha-sung, as “a prominent scholar of economics and activist who has studied the economic inequality issues in society,” President Moon said, “Chang is the perfect person for the post who will get out of the existing paradigm which is centered on family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, and pursue economic and social policies that are centered on people and small- and medium-sized companies, and also can lead to economic democratization, income-led growth, and national growth.”

As for the new vice chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council, Kim Gwang-du, the president called him, “an economist who represents the nation’s reformist conservatism.” “Kim has different perspectives than mine on politics and economy. However, I believe that rational progressivism and reformist conservatism now should go together, in terms of handling economic issues.” President Moon went on to say, “We can go together when we put the lives of our people first.”



Regarding Kang Kyung-wha, special advisor on policy to the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has been named to head the foreign ministry, President Moon said, “Kang is a diplomatic expert who has often been referred to as ‘the nation’s first and greatest female official on diplomacy as she has worked in highly important posts at the foreign minister as the first director, and in the United Nations.”

“I believe that she will wisely handle sensitive pending diplomatic issues based on her expertise and network that she has built on the global diplomatic stage,” the president added.

President Moon then introduced Chung Eui-yong, currently chairman of the standing committee for the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP), who has been appointed as the new chief of the National Security Office, as “an expert who has played a crucial role in raising the national status on the global multilateral-diplomatic stage while working as head of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Korean ambassador to Geneva.”

The president stressed that, “Security and diplomacy are like two sides of a coin. Amid the current crisis sparked by North Korea’s constant provocations, the role of diplomacy in terms of national security is more important than ever before.” “The concept of security today should be more extensive and comprehensive. I believe that the chief of the National Security Office has a strong sense of security and diplomatic ability in order to handle pending issues that we face, issues that challenge our security, diplomacy and economy, like Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons threats, THAAD, and free trade agreements.”

Lastly, the president announced, “I’ve tapped Hong Seok-hyun, former head of JoongAng Ilbo, and Moon Chung-in, professor at Yonsei University, as special envoys who will help the new administration map and fulfil policies on unification, diplomacy and security.” “I hope that having in the Cabinet the two experts who have proved their capabilities and expertise on the global stage will help to solve pending diplomatic and security issues,” the president said.

hanjeon@korea.kr