[비즈한국] President Lee Jae-myung has carried out a second cabinet reshuffle, replacing ministers across six government departments. Lee Hyung-il, the current First Vice Minister of Finance and Economy, has been nominated as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy, while Kim Seung-won, a Democratic Party lawmaker and former judge, has been nominated as Minister of Justice. A key feature of this reshuffle is the positioning of career bureaucrats and experts in major policy areas such as the economy, land, and defense, while tapping incumbent politicians for roles in the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The Blue House has also reinforced its staff by filling the vacant position of Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning and selecting officials for the newly established position of Mega-Project Advisor.
First Vice Minister named as new economic chief, citing policy continuity and execution
President Lee announced the second cabinet reshuffle and a reorganization of the Blue House staff on the 30th. Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik announced the appointments through a briefing at the Blue House Chunchugwan on the same day.
Current First Vice Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hyung-il has been tapped as the new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economy. With the government facing the task of translating improvements in economic indicators into tangible results for the public, the promotion of the current First Vice Minister to the top economic post is interpreted as a move to maintain the continuity of existing economic policies while enhancing the government's capacity for policy implementation.
Nominee Lee is a career economic bureaucrat who has served in major positions across economic policy, finance, and macroeconomics.
A graduate of Seoul National University’s Department of Economics, Lee earned a doctorate in economics from Texas A&M University in the United States and entered public service by passing the 36th Civil Service Examination. He has served as Director of Financial Policy, Director of Economic Analysis, Director of Comprehensive Policy, Director General of Economic Policy, and Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Ministry of Strategy and Finance, and has also worked at the Office of the Senior Secretary for Economic Affairs and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).
A notable aspect of his career is that he held key economic policy positions even as administrations changed. He served as a senior administrator and Secretary for Economic Policy in the Blue House under the Moon Jae-in administration, and as an Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance and Commissioner of Statistics Korea under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration. In the Lee Jae-myung administration, he was appointed as First Vice Minister of Finance and Economy.
Recently, he was reportedly the driving force behind the introduction of a maximum oil price system to respond to high oil prices originating from the Middle East. Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik praised the nominee as a "top-tier policy expert who has held key economic positions," and explained that he is the right person to connect improvements in economic indicators to life changes felt by the public and to resolve polarization issues.
Experts for Land and Defense; politicians for Justice, SMEs, and Gender Equality
The appointments across all six departments also highlight a focus on sector-specific expertise and field experience. Hong Ji-sun, the nominee for Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and current Second Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, previously held related positions in Gyeonggi Province, such as Director of Urban Housing and Director of Construction. This is interpreted as a decision to place an official with extensive design and implementation experience at the forefront to pursue the government's focus on expanding housing supply and stabilizing residential policy.
Nominee for Minister of National Defense Kang Shin-chul, former Deputy Commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, is a four-star general who has held key positions such as Director of Operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary for Security and Defense Strategy at the National Security Office. He currently serves as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Saudi Arabia. He is described as the right person to push for future warfare preparedness and defense reform based on his experience in the ROK-US combined defense system and military operations.
Rep. Kim Seung-won, a two-term lawmaker of the Democratic Party and former judge, has been nominated as Minister of Justice. Nominee Kim, currently the ruling party's ranking member on the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee, is considered to have a strong grasp of the judicial system and legal issues. The Blue House expects him to play a role in reforming the criminal justice system, protecting victims' rights, and stabilizing the system.
Rep. Lee So-young of the Democratic Party, the nominee for Minister of SMEs and Startups, has dealt with policies related to startups and small business owners through her activities in the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee. The Blue House expects that, based on her legislative experience in startup support and small business protection, she will lead the era of national entrepreneurship and support policies for small business owners.
Rep. Yong Hye-in of the Basic Income Party, tapped for Minister of Gender Equality and Family, is the youngest candidate in this reshuffle. Born in 1990, nominee Yong would become the first minister born in the 1990s if appointed after confirmation hearings. Given her track record of speaking out on preventing digital sex crimes, work-family balance, and protecting the socially vulnerable, her appointment is notable both for her relevant policy experience and for the selection of a young politician.
The reorganization of the Blue House staff focused on filling vacancies and strengthening policy functions. Rep. Lee Hae-min of the Rebuilding Korea Party, a former Google engineer, was selected as Senior Secretary for AI Future Planning, while former Senior Secretary Ha Jung-woo will move to the position of Vice Chairman of the National AI Strategy Committee. Lee Won-ju, Director of Energy Transition Policy at the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment, was designated as the new Mega-Project Advisor, and former Chairman of the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development Kim Kyung-soo was designated as a Special Presidential Advisor for Political Affairs.
The hallmark of this reshuffle is the placement of bureaucrats and experts in the economic, land, and defense sectors to ensure policy stability and expertise, while broadly employing incumbent politicians and members of the wider governing coalition in the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and select Blue House positions. It is interpreted as an effort by the Lee Jae-myung administration, now in its second year, to reinforce policy expertise and drive while broadening the scope of state governance.
Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik stated that "competence was the sole criterion for the appointments," and that the reshuffle is intended to accelerate tangible changes that the public can actually feel.