President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday named two presidential aides, while Cheong Wa Dae’s nomination committee convened for the first time as the presidential office moves to step up the vetting process.
In the latest personnel selection, Moon picked Nam Gwan-pyo, South Korea’s ambassador to Sweden, as the second deputy chief of the National Security Council.
Nam is a career diplomat who is currently serving his second ambassadorial post. He has also headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ policy planning bureau and served the Prime Minister’s Office in relation to regulation reform.
Nam Gwan-pyo (left) and Rep. Mun Mi-ock (Yonhap)
“(Nam) is an expert in strategizing and policy planning in matters of diplomacy and security,” presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said.
“Based on his experience in diverse areas, he is the right person to execute the new government’s national security policies without problems.”
Nam replaces Kim Ki-jung who resigned earlier this month. Kim, former head of Yonsei University’s Graduate School of Public Administration, was mired in rumors regarding his conduct at the school. He resigned citing health issues.
To fill the newly created post of science and technology secretary, Moon picked physicist-turned-lawmaker Rep. Mun Mi-ock of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
Mun, who currently holds a proportional representative seat in the National Assembly, is a research scientist who headed the policy planning division of the Center for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology.
Meanwhile, the nomination committee’s first meeting was taken as a signal of the Moon Jae-in administration normalizing its personnel vetting process, which has come under attack from opposition parties.
Opposition parties have protested against a number of minister nominees and have accused Moon of being blinded by his high approval ratings. Their ire reached boiling point over Moon’s appointment of Minister of Foreign Affairs Kang Kyung-wha.
Justice Minister nominee Ahn Kyong-whan’s decision to step down also prompted a barrage of attacks and led to a small dip in Moon’s approval ratings. After Ahn was nominated, a number of past transgressions came to light including a record of filing a marriage certificate without the knowledge of the woman he was dating at that time.
The nomination committee, chaired by the chief of staff, was established by late President Roh Moo-hyun, but became largely nominal during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations.
By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)