President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday appointed all three top-level presidential secretaries, promoting his chief policy secretary, Lee Kwan-sup, to chief of staff, appointing an economic expert to succeed Lee and tapping First Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin as his national security adviser. All of the ministerial-level presidential secretaries, who report directly to Yoon, will start work on Monday, the first day .
Debate is heating up over the recent nomination of Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Oh Young-ju as the minister of SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) and startups, because she has only worked as a diplomat in her entire 36-year career, according to industry officials, Wednesday.
President Yoon Suk Yeol replaced six ministers on Monday in an apparent move to set free current Cabinet members seeking to run in the April general elections and also to seek fresh momentum in his leadership. It was the biggest reshuffle of the Cabinet since Yoon was inaugurated in May 2022. Yoon named Choi Sang-mok, former senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, to succeed Choo Kyung-ho as the new deput.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo departed for Paris on Sunday to attend a general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions on Tuesday, where a vote will take place to determine the fate of Busan's bid to host the World Expo in 2030. Accompanying Han at Incheon Airport were Industry Minister Bang Moon-kyu, Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Oh Young-ju, Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon, and Chey Tae-won, w.
Greek Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Konstantinos Fragogiannis is undertaking a significant diplomatic mission to Seoul, following a crucial meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis during the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month.