Yoon finalizes Cabinet nomination, taps umbrella union official as labor minister

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol announced the final two minister nominees on Thursday, finishing up the first round of nominations for his incoming Cabinet. Yoon announced his choices for the other 16 ministerial posts in the past two rounds of announcements.

In the press briefing, Yoon tapped Lee Jung-sik for minister of employment and labor. Lee formerly served as secretary general of the Korea Labor and Employment Service, and a top administrator for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, an umbrella union organization.

“Lee has been working in the field of labor for the past 30 years ... and he is seen as an expert who takes a rational approach in dealing with the labor-company relationship,” Yoon said.

“With his wide experience and expertise in the labor field, I believe he is the right person to realize (a society where) the value of labor is respected properly and labor-company relations are rationally established.”

For the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Yoon tapped Chung Hwang-keun, former chief of the Rural Development Administration, as the minister.

“When he was serving as the head of the Rural Development Administration, he made a commitment to introducing high-technology based farming methods to raise productivity, amid a changing farming environment affected by climate change and an aging population,” Yoon said.

Yoon also said Chung is a qualified figure capable of resolving pending problems in the agriculture industry, and that the nominee would be able to raise the competitiveness of Korean agriculture.

As a government official, Chung served as the chief of agricultural policy divisions and other major posts at the Agriculture Ministry, and also served as the presidential secretary for agriculture and food affairs.

However, signs of discord between President-elect Yoon and presidential transition committee Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo were apparent over Yoon’s choices. Ahn cancelled his public activities following Yoon’s Cabinet nominations, in an apparent protest of Yoon bypassing his recommendations. Yoon said he was not aware of Ahn’s opinions on the nominations.

“I received many recommendations from many people, and I did not exclude specific figures (for personnel appointment). From the group of skilled candidates, we reviewed them to select the nominees,” Yoon said.

Yoon added that when the two met on early Wednesday, Yoon had given a sufficient explanation to Ahn about how the Cabinet appointments were made.

“Ahn is not displeased about it as far as I know. So I do not know about Ahn’s cancellation of public activities,” Yoon said.

“I do not know what is exactly on Ahn’s mind. He may not have told me what he really thinks when we met, so I do not know what he is thinking inside.”

Yoon has yet to appoint the presidential secretaries in charge of national security, political affairs and the economy.

The president-elect would likely be discussing the personnel appointments with the chief of staff nominee Kim Dae-ki, whom the president-elect selected on Wednesday, according to an official from Yoon’s office.

The 18 minister nominees are expected to undergo parliamentary confirmation hearings around the end of this month for their official appointments, along with the presidential inauguration in May.

By Jo He-rim (herim@heraldcorp.com)