Ex-vice foreign minister to lead foreign affairs on Yoon’s transition team

More members of the presidential transition committee for president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol were announced Tuesday, including a former vice foreign minister and a former vice speaker among others.

In a press briefing, Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye released some of the names of the chiefs and members for the three subcommittees --foreign policy and national security, economy, and politics and judiciary administration.

Former vice foreign minister Kim Sung-han was appointed to lead the foreign affairs and security subcommittee,

Kim served as the second vice foreign minister in 2012 to 2013, and is a renowned international politics professor, currently teaching at Korea University.

Kim has been Yoon’s foreign policy mentor, and is known to be his longtime friend who went to the same elementary school as Yoon.

Other members of the subcommittee announced are Kim Tae-hyo, a political science and diplomacy professor at Sungkyunkwan University and Lee Jong-sup, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

For the economy subcommittee, former vice finance minister Choi Sang-mok, who served in the post from 2016 to 2017, was appointed as the chief. The other two members are Kim So-young, an economics professor at Seoul National University and Shin Sung-hwan, a finance professor at Hongik University.

In the subcommittee in charge of politics and judiciary administration, a former lawmaker Yoo Sang-beom and Rep. Lee Yong-ho were tapped.

The personnel appointment list also includes former National Assembly vice speaker Park Joo-sun, who would be in charge of the preparation for Yoon’s inauguration ceremony.

According to the spokesperson, all personnel appointments are aligned to the principle stated to pursue meritocracy over all other factors, such as gender and region of origin.

As for the vetting process, the spokeperson said Yoon plans for his presidential office to only recommend personnel, and share the inspection job of the potential high-ranking officials and Cabinent members to other agencies -- such as the police or the prosecution -- with impartiality.

“In the United States, the FBI and other state entities take charge of it (personnel vetting), and we will also take that as reference,” Kim added. 

Meanwhile, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol traveled to cities in the east coastal mountain areas where wildfire damaged facilities and displaced hundreds from their homes on Tuesday.

Yoon visited Uljin in North Gyengsang Province, where the country’s most devastating wildfire on record has displaced some 400 people from their homes.

There, he was briefed on the situation and recovery efforts by the Korea Forest Service and Uljin County governor. He also met with residents diplaced by the blaze.

They also talked about the fire around Donghae in Gangwon Province in north Uljin, which was started as an arson attack meant to cause severe damage.

Listening to requests from residents, Yoon said it is important for the government to make efforts to rebuild lost facilities and to aid fast recovery. He also promised to resume with the government’s plan to construct two nuclear reactors, Shin-Hanul No. 3 and 4 in Uljin, which would invigorate the regional economy and create jobs.

The Uljin blaze, which started on March 4 in the east coastal mountain areas, was only put out about 213 hours after it first broke out, marking the longest time ever since related data had been compiled in 1986. No casualties were reported, but some 643 facilities, including 319 homes, have been reported to have been damaged.

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