President Yoon Suk Yeol approved the appointments of new Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and new Culture Minister Yoo In-chon on Saturday, the presidential office said.
Shin, a lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was nominated by Yoon last month. He will replace Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup who offered to resign amid the main opposition Democratic Party's (DP) push to impeach him over his handling of a military investigation into a young Marine's death.
Yoo, special presidential adviser for culture and sports, will replace Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Bo-kyoon.
Yoo had served as the first culture minister for former President Lee Myung-bak from 2008 to 2011.
The National Assembly did not adopt a confirmation report for Shin, but the presidential office said Yoon approved his appointment as the new ministers need time to prepare for the annual parliamentary audit set to kick off Tuesday.
Shin underwent a parliamentary confirmation hearing last week but failed to win the approval of the DP, which claims he is not fit for the job due to his controversial remarks in the past and "biased" view of history.
Shin was criticized for making remarks in 2019 that appeared to defend the Dec. 12 military coup of 1979, but he said there was a "misunderstanding" and "a coup is something that should absolutely not and cannot happen."
Shin is the 18th Cabinet member of the Yoon administration to be appointed without parliamentary consent.
The Assembly held a confirmation hearing for Yoo on Thursday and adopted a report that said Yoo is partially "inappropriate" to become the new culture minister.
Yoo has been dogged by allegations that he was involved in the Lee Myung-bak administration's creation of a "blacklist" of artists whose works were considered left-leaning or critical of the government when he served as Lee's culture minister.
Yoo, however, has denied the allegations, saying such a blacklist did not exist at that time.
Source: Yonhap News Agency