Rep. Choo Kyung-ho of incoming People Power Party and head of planning subcommittee at the presidential transition committee (right) and Choi Sang-mok, the head of economy subcommittee enters the committee headquarters in Jongno, Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)
In shaping his Cabinet, the president-elect office is considering several former vice ministers and seasoned politicians as likely members, including Rep. Park Jin for Foreign Ministry and Rep. Choo Kyung-ho for the economy, according to sources Monday.
Kim Eun-hye, the spokesperson for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday that Yoon would be spending much time reviewing the potential candidates for his Cabinet this week.
“We are making efforts so that we can release the formation of the Cabinet next week, as we need to secure a minimum of three weeks to obtain parliamentary approval and finish appointments before the inauguration (on May 10),” Kim said in a press briefing.
Yoon has put emphasis on creating a “one team” of offices for economic areas, and a number of figures who previously worked with Han Duck-soo, the prime minister nominee, are being considered as likely candidates for finance minister.
Among them is Rep. Choo Kyung-ho, who is currently leading the planning and management subcommittee of the presidential transition committee.
Choo served as the vice chairman of the Financial Service Commission under the Lee Myung-bak administration from 2011 to 2013, and then as vice minister at the Ministry of Economy and Finance under the Park Geun-hye administration from 2013 to 2014.
For the head of the FSC, Choi Sang-mok, president of Nonghyup University now working as the head of the economy subcommittee at the presidential transition committee is being raised as a likely candidate, according to presidential transition committee sources.
Choi served as the vice finance minister from 2016 to 2017 under the Park Geun-hye administration.
Both Choo and Choi were working-level officials at the Finance Ministry when Han was finance minister in 2005. Choo was in charge of financial policies and Choi was responsible for the securities system.
According to a transition committee official, Yoon has held an in-depth discussion on personnel appointment with Han, as the prime minister holds the right to request personnel appointments.
The official said Yoon’s office was likely to decide on the Finance Ministry before others.
On the foreign affairs front, Rep. Park Jin of People Power Party is considered as a prominent nominee for Foreign Minister, along with Rep. Cho Tae-yong of the same party.
Both lawmakers have been acting as foreign policy advisers for the president-elect. Park took off for a five-night trip to Washington on Sunday, leading Yoon’s policy consultation delegation to meet with officials there to coordinate policies with the US before Yoon’s inauguration in May.
Cho served as vice foreign minister from 2014 to 2015 under the Park Geun-hye administration.
Kim Sung-han, a former vice foreign minister who is currently leading the foreign affairs subcommittee at the transition committee, is also being considered as a potential candidate for Yoon’s first national security adviser.
For first Defense Minister, former Army Chief of Staff Kim Yong-woo is being mentioned as a likely candidate.
By Jo He-rim (
herim@heraldcorp.com)