President Lee picks South Korea’s first civilian defense chief in 64 years
Seoul, South Korea (AP) – President of South Korea Lee Jae Myung On Monday, a five -term liberal deputy was nominated as the Minister of Defense and broke the tradition of appointing retired military generals.
The announcement came to face high -profile criminal cases on the roles of former defense officials, including former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, on the role of martial law under the then president last year. Yoon Suk Yeol, He was accused of rebellion charges and was dismissed.
Ahn Gyu-Back, a deputy of Lee’s Democratic Party, served in the National Assembly Defense Committee and presided on a legislative panel investigating the conditions surrounding Yoon’s martial law decree.
Yoon’s authoritarian move included deployment Hundreds of heavy armed units To the offices of the National Assembly and Election Commission, which prosecutors define as an illegal initiative to close the law and arrest political opponents and election officials.
This led to calls to strengthen civilian control over the army, and during the Lee election campaign, he promised to appoint a civilian defense minister with a civilian background.
Since the 1961 coup that brought Park Chung-Hee to power, all the defense ministers of South Korea came from the army.
Although Ahn will face a legislative hearing, the process is likely to be a formality, because the Democrats have a comfortable majority in the National Assembly, and Lee’s consent is not necessary for him to appoint him. Among the cabinet appointments, Lee only needs legal consent for the prime minister who is the number 2 of Seoul.
LEE’s Chief of General Staff Kang Hoon-Sik said, as the first Civil National Defense Minister in 64 years, it will be responsible for leading and supervising the transformation of the army after mobilization in martial law. ”
Ahn was among the 11 ministers nominated by Lee on Monday, and for a long time diplomat Cho Hyun Foreign Minister and Five-Term MP Chung Dong-Young returned to another mission for a position where Seoul kept as a point man for relations with North Korea from 2004 to 2005.
