Nak-Yeon Lee “He is the Prime Minister of the Night”…

“The nickname (I) given to Yoo Young-min is the prime minister of the night. He often arranged three-three-five and whole meetings among the members of the State Council. He’s also an elder, but he does that well.”

Lee Nak-yeon, the head of the Democratic Party of the Republic of Korea, told the surroundings immediately after the announcement of the new presidential secretary, Yoo Young-min. At the same time, CEO Lee said, “I am a very capable person. He added that he is a very refreshing person with affinity and ability to solve tasks.”

On the night of the 30th, Yoo was first mentioned as the policy manager’s card, even just before reports that he was promising as the next secretary’s office came out. His history of serving as Minister of Science and Technology Information and Communication (July 2017 to September last year) through LG CNS and POSCO Management Research Center, etc., seems closer to policy than political affairs.

Mr. Yoo himself said he did not deny the possibility of appointing the next policy chief. However, even before the announcement of the Blue House, some of the key members of the passport said, “If you are the secretary, you are not the policy manager,” because of the unique affinity of Mr. Yoo.

Even within the Democratic Party, all those who served as ministers of the Moon Jae-in administration remembered his affinity. Kim Young-chun, former member of the Moon Jae-in administration, who served as the first Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, said, “When I was in office as the minister, I got a call from Mr. Yoo,’Let’s see,’ regardless of day or night.” I did.” The Moon Jae-in government’s 1st cabinet meeting, in which Yoo took the role of secretary, was held once every quarter even after each resignation and continued until last June.

After resigning from the post of minister, he often made meetings with members of the Democratic Party of the National Assembly Science Technology Information Broadcasting and Communication Committee. One passport assistant who witnessed this event said, “Mr. Yoo said,’I did a little help when I was a minister,’ and made a joke to the lawmakers under his hand, raising the atmosphere.”

The question of the politicians is, how did Mr. Yoo narrow his distance from the president so close? In the Democratic Party, there was a saying, “Will you put an uncomfortable person in the secretary’s office? It will be very comfortable” (the first lawmaker from the Blue House), but few people know exactly what happened and when it triggered.

The main focus of attention was the days of Yoo’s LG Electronics. When the eldest son of former President Roh Moo-hyun, former presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun, joined LG Electronics in July 2002, who was a managing director, Mr. Yoo announced his support for Mr. Kun-ho according to the company custom of “avoiding children of famous politicians”. He reported it to the top. Mr. Yoo said, “At the time, Mr. Kunho was confirmed as a result of the judgment of the superiors that’Roh Moo-hyun was not yet a big player.’ When Mr. Yoo was nominated as a candidate for the Minister of Science and Technology in 2017, then Liberal Korean Party lawmaker Min Gyeong-wook pointed out that “there was a lot of word of mouth in LG that he would take good care of the president’s son and win success.” A passport official from the Blue House of the Roh Moo-hyun administration said, “In the private office, Mr. Yoo himself said,’I had Mr. Kun-ho at LG Electronics, but I paid special attention.’

Political circles observe that this is also the time when they first began to build closeness with Mr. Yoo and President Moon Jae-in, who was then chief civilian at the time. However, another passport figure from the Blue House of Roh Moo-hyun administration said, “Managing the president’s family and relatives was one of the duties of Chief Min Jeong, and the relationship between Mr. Yoo and President Moon was a very business dimension.” “It was in the 2017 presidential election that we got closer in earnest. I have to see it.” A re-elected congressman, who tends to be close, said, “President Moon took special care of Mr. Yoo during the presidential election.”

President Moon recruited Mr. Yoo and nominated him to Haeundae Gap in Busan before the 20th general election in April 2016 when he was the Democratic Party representative. It was the 11th target of recruitment. At that time, the Democratic Party’s aide who helped Mr. Yoo’s election campaign said, “Since Mr. Yoo is from Dongnae High School, the party recommended running for Dongnae in Busan, but he chose Haeundaegap, who had a bad vote, because he wanted to avoid competition with alumni.” In the same district, Yoo was defeated twice in a row by Rep. Ha Tae-kyung. “It was President Moon who was also authorized to run for the second time,” said the third line member of the pro-moon.

In September 2016, right after the election of the 20th general election, Mr. Yoo was selected as the chairman of the on-off network party under the leadership of the Chu Mi-ae party and led the campaign to recruit 1 million members of the online rights party. The online rights party became the core foundation of the Moon’s victory. In addition, it is now working as an environment that maintains the atmosphere of the Party and the Office even until the end of the term.

A Democratic Party member who participated in the first cabinet together with Mr. Yoo said, “Even though Mr. Yoo seems soft on the surface, he is a considerable principleist.” Lee said, “It is a famous anecdote that the former Vice Minister of Science and Technology Moon Mi-ok, who had moved from the Blue House when he was in office as the minister, gave a lot of opinions on the personnel affairs and warned him, saying,’You are spectacular.’ It must have been the reason why Director Yoo Do won the trust of President Moon and President Lee.”

It is the Democratic Party members in Busan, the political hometown of President Moon, who cannot hide the embarrassment of the appointment of Mr. Yoo. Members of the Democratic Party’s Busan district and the Busan-based parental group proposed Lee Ho-cheol as the last chief of the secretary’s office until just before the appointment of Mr. Yoo.

The key person in the passport from Busan said, “I’m worried about it.” Mr. Yoo, who has been in the political world for 5 years, said he was wondering whether he could defend the political offensive that will continue until his retirement and take charge of the surrounding management. Lee said, “Yoo is from Dongnae High School-Pusan ​​National University, but he has no trace left in Busan,” and said, “We cannot expect the effect of reversing the atmosphere for the April election.”
The members of the Busan area are very eager to speak. One member of the PK area said, “I don’t know well because he appeared suddenly.” A former lawmaker in the Busan area also commented, “He is a reasonable person with a moderate tendency and is suitable for management because he has affinity.”

Reporter Shim Sae-rom and Kim Hyo-seong [email protected]