SEOUL– President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol announced his nominees for agriculture and labor ministers Thursday to complete his first Cabinet lineup.
Chung Hwang-keun, former head of the Rural Development Administration and a former presidential secretary for agriculture, was named agriculture minister, while Lee Jung-sik, former secretary general of the Korea Labor and Employment Service, was tapped for labor minister.
Chung is the “right person to not only resolve issues facing rural communities but also boost the competitiveness of the agriculture, forestry and livestock industries and develop them into future growth industries,” Yoon said at a press conference.
Lee was chosen for his expertise on labor-management relations, Yoon said.
“He is the right person to draw a blueprint for the establishment of rational labor-management relations where the value of labor is properly respected,” he said.
With Thursday’s announcement, Yoon filled all 18 Cabinet positions ahead of the launch of his administration on May 10.
All 18 people, plus the prime minister nominee, will be subject to a parliamentary confirmation process, but only the prime minister nominee will require parliament’s approval.
Subsequently, Yoon is expected to announce the first members of his presidential office, including his national security adviser and senior secretaries for political and economic affairs.
Kim Sung-han, Yoon’s childhood friend and foreign policy mentor, is widely mentioned as his first national security adviser, while former Rep. Lee Jin-bok and Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University, are considered likely to be named senior secretaries for political affairs and economic affairs, respectively.
On Wednesday, Yoon tapped Kim Dae-ki, an economic technocrat, for his first chief of staff.
He also nominated Rep. Park Jin, a politician well versed in relations with the United States, as foreign minister, and Han Dong-hoon, his closest prosecutor colleague, as justice minister.
Source: Yonhap News Agency