Yoon Suk-yeol picks women for his final two Cabinet appointments

Politics

Published: 26 May. 2022, 16:23 Updated: 26 May. 2022, 17:25

Yoon Suk-yeol picks women for his final two Cabinet appointments

President Yoon Suk-yeol, center, bangs a gavel as he convenes his first Cabinet meeting at the Sejong government complex in Sejong City Thursday. [NEWS1]

President Yoon Suk-yeol named two women to fill his education and health minister posts, aiming for a bit of gender balance in his male-dominated Cabinet.

Park Soon-ae, a professor at Seoul National University's (SNU) Graduate School of Public Administration, was tapped as education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs, said the presidential office Thursday.

Kim Seung-hee, a former lawmaker and former head of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, was named minister of health and welfare.

The presidential office said that Park, as a public administration expert, "is expected to improve the efficiency of education administration and lead the implementation of key state affairs in the education field."

It added that having recently served as a member of the presidential transition team's legal, political and administrative affairs subcommittee, Park "understands the government philosophy of the Yoon Seok-yeol government."

Born in Busan, Park earned bachelor and masters' degrees in public administration from Yonsei University and a doctorate in public administration from the University of Michigan. She has served as director of the Public Performance Management Research Center and was the first female president of the Korean Association for Public Administration.

Despite a lack of an education policy background, Park has extensive government advisory experience, including advising the Environment Ministry, Defense Ministry, Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Park was the first woman to lead the management evaluation of public corporations and quasi-governmental institutions under the Ministry of Economy and Finance and advised on the direction of improving the performance management of public institutions, said the presidential office.

From left: Education Minister nominee Park Soon-ae, Health Minister nominee Kim Seung-hee

Kim is an expert in the health and medical field who served as minister for food and drug safety from 2015 to 2016 in the Park Geun-hye administration. As a proportional representative, she served on the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee.

The presidential office said Kim proposed various policies on health and Covid-19 while serving on the parliamentary health and welfare committee and as a member of the National Assembly's special committee on Covid-19 responses.

"We expect that the experience and expertise nominee Kim Seung-hee accumulated in the field, in government and in the National Assembly will contribute to the achievement of state affairs in the government's health and welfare sector," the office said.

Kim earned her bachelor and masters' degrees in pharmacy from SNU and a doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Notre Dame.

The nominees will undergo parliamentary confirmation hearings but do not require National Assembly approval.

If appointed, they will join three other females in the Cabinet lineup, the ministers of gender equality, SMEs and environment.

Oh Yu-kyoung, dean of SNU's College of Pharmacy, also a women, was named chief of the Ministry for Food and Drug Safety, a vice minister-level post.

Earlier Thursday, a presidential official said Yoon planned to pick women as his nominees for his remaining minister posts as part of his efforts to "encourage professional advancement of women," amid criticism that his Cabinet was mostly male.

Yoon's first nominees for the two minister posts were forced to step down over allegations of ethical lapses.

In early May, Kim In-chul, Yoon's first pick as education minister, withdrew his candidacy after facing accusations of arranging preferential treatment for his children.

On Monday, Yoon's initial health minister nominee, Chung Ho-young, a former president of Kyungpook National University Hospital, likewise stepped down after allegations that he used his position to help his two children gain admission to a medical school and to help his son avoid active-duty military service.

So far, 16 out of 18 ministers in Yoon's Cabinet have been appointed. If the health and education ministers are appointed, five ministers, or 28 percent, will be female, similar to the lineup of the first Moon Jae-in Cabinet.

During his presidential campaign, Yoon pledged to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, a move that was meant to appeal to young male voters in their 20s and 30s. But it resulted in a backlash from women's rights groups and young female voters.

In a joint press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden after their summit in Seoul last weekend, Yoon was asked by a U.S. reporter what role Korea, as a developed country, will play in improving the representation and advancement of women and improving the state of gender equality in the country.

"If you look at the public officials sector, especially the ministers in the Cabinet, we really didn't see a lot of women advancing to that position thus far," said Yoon.

He acknowledged that Korea has "quite a short history" of ensuring equal opportunities, and continued, "So, what we're trying to do is to very actively ensure such opportunities for women."

On Thursday, Yoon presided over his first regular Cabinet session in Sejong City and called on his ministers to make efforts to balance regional development.

He told his Cabinet, "Regardless of where we live, all Koreans should enjoy fair opportunities."

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]