[Anchor]

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

Our first report today (the 31st) is by reporter Kang Cheongwan.

[Reporter]

Lee Hyung-il, the current 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance who was nominated as the candidate for Deputy Prime Minister for Economy and Minister of Economy and Finance—the nation's economic policymaking chief—is a veteran bureaucrat born in Daegu in 1971. He served in key posts at the former Ministry of Strategy and Finance and later worked as the Secretary for Economic Policy at the Blue House under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Nominated as the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who will oversee real estate policies and other areas, is Hong Ji-sun, the current 2nd Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who is also a career bureaucrat.

Born in Donghae, Gangwon Province, in 1970, she previously worked with President Lee when he served as Governor of Gyeonggi Province, where she headed the Gyeonggi Provincial Urban Housing Office.

Two-term Democratic Party lawmaker Lee So-young was selected to fill the vacant position of Minister of SMEs and Startups, which became open after former Minister Han Sung-sook moved to the Prime Minister's office. Meanwhile, two-term lawmaker Kim Seung-won, a former judge, was named as the nominee for Minister of Justice.

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

[Kang Hoon-sik / Chief of Staff to the President: To more rapidly drive and more widely spread tangible changes that the public can feel, we set 'competence-centric appointments' as the sole criterion for the cabinet.]

Personnel appointments for presidential aides were also carried out simultaneously.

Lawmaker Lee Hae-min of the Rebuilding Korea Party was designated as the Blue House Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning, while Lee Won-joo, Director-General for Energy Transition Policy at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, was appointed as the senior-level Presidential Advisor for Mega-Projects.

Ha Jung-woo, former Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning, was appointed as the 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 the Presidential Special Advisor for Political Affairs.

(Camera Reporter: Ha Ryung)