[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korean President Moon Jae-in appointed a former career financial official to head the economic control tower of his new administration Sunday and picked a veteran female diplomat in the United Nations as foreign minister.
As finance minister, Moon picked Ajou University President Kim Dong-yeon, 60, saying he is the best figure tasked with putting an early end to "low growth and economic polarization". Kim joined the university in early 2015 after serving as an economic official specializing in fiscal policies and budget planning for more than three decades.
Chang Ha-sung, an economics professor at Korea University, was made a senior presidential aide to push for economic democratization. The professor is well known for his study in economic injustice brought by South Korea's powerful family-run conglomerates, or chaebol, and his nomination reflects Moon's will to reform chaebol.
Kang Kyung-hwa, a special policy advisor to UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres, became South Korea's first female foreign minister. She joined the foreign ministry in 1999 and served as deputy emergency relief coordinator of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2006 and assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs by former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2013.
Chung Eui-yong, a former ambassador to Geneva, would head the National Security Office, a security control tower in the presidential office. As special diplomatic and security advisors, the president picked Moon Chung-in, a Yonsei University honorary professor, and Hong Seok-hyun, a former newspaper chief who visited Washington as a special presidential envoy.
Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
