Cabinet Reshuffle Affects 6 Ministries; Lee Hyung-il Nominated as Finance Minister, Kim Seung-won as Justice Minister

[Anchor]

President Lee Jae-myung has abruptly carried out a medium-scale cabinet reshuffle, nominating new ministers for six ministries. Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won has been tapped as the nominee for the vacant Minister of Justice, while the positions of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport are also set to be replaced.

Today's first report comes from reporter Kang Cheongwan.

[Reporter]

Lee Hyung-il, current 1st Vice Minister of Economy and Finance and nominee for Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance—the country's economic chief—is a career bureaucrat born in Daegu in 1971. He held key positions in the former Ministry of Strategy and Finance and served as Secretary for Economic Policy at the President's Office under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Hong Ji-sun, current 2nd Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and also a career bureaucrat, has been nominated to head the ministry overseeing real estate policies.

Born in Donghae, Gangwon Province, in 1970, she previously worked closely with President Lee when he served as Governor of Gyeonggi Province, acting as the head of the province's Urban Housing Bureau.

Two-term Democratic Party lawmaker Lee So-young has been selected to lead the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, which became vacant following former Minister Han Sung-sook's move to the Prime Minister's office. Fellow two-term Democratic Party lawmaker and former judge Kim Seung-won was nominated as the Justice Minister nominee.

Succeeding Minister Ahn Gyu-back, who was the first civilian defense minister in 64 years, Kang Shin-chul, Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, has been nominated. A graduate of the 46th class of the Korea Military Academy, he previously served as Deputy Commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command. Meanwhile, Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hyein has been tapped as the nominee for Minister of Gender Equality and Family.

[Kang Hoon-sik / Chief of Staff to the President: In order to more rapidly drive and more broadly spread tangible changes that the public can feel, we have established 'competency-based appointments' as the sole standard for the cabinet.]

Personnel appointments for presidential aides were also carried out simultaneously.

Rebuilding Future Innovation Party lawmaker Lee Hae-min was designated as Senior Secretary to the President for AI Future Planning, while Lee Won-ju, Director-General for Energy Transition Policy at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, was appointed as Presidential Advisor at the senior secretary level.

Ha Jung-woo, former Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning, was appointed as Vice Chairman of the National AI Strategy Committee, and former Presidential Committee for Ageing Society and Population Policy Chairman Kim Kyung-soo was appointed as Special Presidential Advisor for Political Affairs.

(Video by: Ha Ryung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.