South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has tapped an information technology executive as culture minister and a ruling party lawmaker as land minister, the presidential office said on Friday, completing the nomination of all 19 members of his first Cabinet.
Lee named Chae Hwi-young, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Nol Universe, a travel platform of the country’s top trip and accommodation booking service operator Yanolja Co. backed by SoftBank Group Corp., Kang Hoon-sik, President Lee’s chief of staff, told reporters.
Rep. Kim Yun-duk of the ruling Democratic Party, who has served on the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, was appointed to lead the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Kang said.
“President Lee has asked the nominees to break boldly from conventional practices and lead change with fresh and flexible thinking for innovation across society,” Kang said.
The appointments reflected Lee’s preference for proven, practical professionals, political pundits said.
He named four executives of private companies such as the country’s online giant Naver Corp. as ministers.
Han Seong-sook, the former CEO of Naver, was appointed as Minister of SMEs and Startups, while Bae Kyung-hoon, head of LG AI Research, LG Group’s research institute on the technology, was named as science minister. Kim Jung-kwan, president of major power plant builder Doosan Enerbility Co. and veteran energy sector bureaucrat, was tapped as industry minister.
FROM NAVER
Chae, a former journalist at South Korea’s largest Yonhap News Agency, served as the CEO of NHN Corp., which was separated from Naver, and Interpark Triple, Yanolja’s subsidiary.
“Chae has experience in journalism, online platforms, and travel tech entrepreneurship. With his private-sector expertise and fresh perspective, he is expected to turn the president’s vision of creating a 300 trillion won ($217.5 billion) K-culture market into reality,” Kang said.
Lee has also appointed Ha Jung-woo, the former head of Naver’s Cloud AI Innovation Center, as senior advisor on artificial intelligence for the presidential office.
Lee’s appointments of former Naver executives underscored his emphasis on pragmatism and performance as he sets the tone for his administration, political pundits said.
Some IT industry sources played down such views, however, saying Chae and Ha, a former journalist, mainly handled government affairs.
“Naver quickly established a monopolistic position in the market. The company put significant effort into managing relations with the government and National Assembly when it faced controversies during its growth,” said one of the sources.
“Rather than simply viewing them as private sector figures, we need to closely examine what roles they actually played within the company.”
RULING DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Land minister nominee Kim, a three-term lawmaker, is predicted to address the surging property market prices, the presidential office said.
“Kim is expected to implement the president’s pragmatic philosophy of respecting market principles while strictly opposing speculative real estate practices and protecting genuine homebuyers,” Kang said.
With the nomination, eight ruling party lawmakers are set to lead government ministries such as Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back, Environment Minister Kim Sung-whan, Gender Equality Minister Kang Sun-woo and Maritime Affairs Minister Jun Jae-soo. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok is also a ruling party lawmaker.
That compares with former President Moon Jae-in, who tapped five ruling party lawmakers as ministers.
Lee also named a Democratic Party lawmaker and former Vice Administrator of the National Tax Service Lim Kwang-hyun as Commissioner of the National Tax Service. It was the first time for a sitting lawmaker to be tapped for the position.
Some critics are concerned that such nominations could weaken the National Assembly’s ability to check the government.
“Since this administration began without a presidential transition committee, it was an inevitable choice to bring in those who have already worked closely with the president to ensure operational efficiency,” Kang said to ease such worries.
By Hyung-Kyu Kim and Jae-Young Han
khk@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
