Female ministers exits
President should keep campaign pledge to keep 30 percent share
President Moon Jae-in s reshuffle of three Cabinet members Wednesday sharply lowered the share of female ministers in his administration. The chief executive replaced Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha and SMEs and Startups Minister Park Young-sun with male nominees. The number of female ministers fell from five to three or from 27.7 percent to 16.6 percent of the total 18. We want to believe that the partial reshuffle resulted from applying fair and objective criteria to maximize accomplishments toward the Moon administration s final year in office.
Still, it was regrettable the President failed to find the outgoing ministers successors from among qualified women, respecting various values such as gender equality, minority rights and social diversity. It showed the nation has a long way to go before becoming an inclusive and advanced society. As a candidate, Moon vowed to keep the share
Questions growing over Moon s pick for foreign minister
Posted : 2021-01-21 16:36 By Kang Seung-woo
President Moon Jae-in s pick for new foreign minister is raising questions over whether the nominee is the perfect fit for the position against the backdrop of the leadership change in the United States.
Foreign minister nominee Chung Eui-yong speaks to reporters as he arrives at a temporary office in Seoul, Thursday. / YonhapOn Wednesday, Moon named former National Security Office chief Chung Eui-yong to replace Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha in an apparent bid to push his Korean Peninsula peace process, which has been deadlocked since the failure of the Hanoi summit between North Korea and the U.S. in February 2019. Chung is the architect of the peace initiative.