President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday appointed Hyun Soo-yeop, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as the ministry's first vice minister, and Lee Jong-wook, deputy commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, as the new commissioner.
Lee Kyu-yeon, senior presidential secretary for public relations, announced the replacement of several vice-ministerial-level political appointees during a briefing at the Chunchugwan press hall. Introducing the new vice minister, the senior secretary said, "She is a working mother raising four children who has greatly contributed to improving the treatment of childcare teachers and introducing the extended daycare system at childcare centers."
Of the new customs commissioner, he said, "He is a career bureaucrat who has held key positions at the Korea Customs Service, including chief of planning and coordination, and has uncovered large-scale illegal circumvention exports and cracked down on massive drug trafficking jointly with the Thai government." He added, "He is the right person to provide stable support for the trade and investment activities of Korean companies and to block customs practices that threaten public safety."
With these appointments, Lee Sran, the first vice minister of health and welfare, and Lee Myung-gu, commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, will step down less than a year after taking up their posts. Asked whether the moves amounted to a "dismissal," the senior secretary drew a line, saying, "These are personnel decisions necessary for the administration to move forward in a new and progressive direction."
On the same day, the president appointed Moon Sung-yo, head of the planning and coordination office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, as commissioner of the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency, a position left vacant after former commissioner Kim Eui-kyeom ran in a National Assembly by-election. Former lawmaker Hong Mi-young was named chairperson of the Presidential Commission on Sustainable Development, while Paik Jong-woo, a professor at Kyung Hee University, was tapped as vice chairperson of the National Life and Safety Commission, and Kim Ki-young, a professor at Yonsei University, was selected as chairperson of the National Library Commission.
