In just six hours, the two main pillars of the Moon Jae-in government’s diplomatic and security lines were replaced. On the 20th, at 10 am, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha’s full-fledged change was announced, and at 4:20 pm, the replacement of the second deputy general manager Kim Hyun-jong, who was once called the’real life’ of the Blue House National Security Office, was announced.
Prior to the start of the first session of the 2019 ASEAN-Korea Special Summit held at the BEXCO Convention Hall in Busan, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa (left) and Kim Hyun-jong, the second deputy head of the Blue House National Security Office, are preparing for the meeting. The two suffered a fierce discord at the time, and were replaced simultaneously on January 20, 2021. Provided by the 2019 ASEAN-Korea Special Summit
Minister Kang’s successor was appointed Special Adviser for Foreign Affairs and Security of President Eui-yong Eui-yong, who was formerly the first security officer of the Moon Jae-in administration. Deputy General Kim’s successor was Hyung-jin Kim, Ambassador for International Relations in Seoul. Deputy General Kim was virtually retired to the second line when he moved to the position as Special Assistant to the Presidential Foreign Affairs and Security.
The Blue House described the lines of Eui-yong Eui-yong and Hyeong-jin Kim as “a stone with the inauguration of Biden’s US administration in mind.” A key official said, “We have diplomatic experience and expertise in the United States. In particular, during the time of Vice President Biden, he served as director of North America, and served as secretary and assistant secretary for the Blue House.” At the same time, he emphasized, “We also have a channel to connect with Biden’s network.”
During the Obama administration, when Biden was the vice president, Naejeong-ja Kim served as an assistant to the foreign minister, as an assistant to the North American chief, as a foreign affairs secretary at the Blue House, as the head of the planning and coordination department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and assistant secretary. It was during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations. After the Moon Jae-in administration, he has worked as an ambassador for international relations in Seoul following the ambassador to Belgium.
In a call with JoongAng Ilbo after the announcement, Kim Nae-jeong-ja said, “Only national interests are the top priority in diplomacy,” and “I will do my best because many of the people who worked in the Obama administration are also involved in the new administration.”
Meanwhile, a key member of the Blue House explained that the background of Deputy General Kim’s replacement was “the purpose of invigorating the diplomatic and security lines in the second half of the term and rearranging the line.” “Since I was in office in March 2019, it was quite time.” In general, Blue House staffs often view the term of two years in office as’endurance life’ due to work stress.
From left to right, the president moved to the special assistant for foreign affairs and security. Photo blue house
Immediately after the announcement of greetings on the day, Deputy General Kim said on his Facebook page, “I have twice the opportunity to devote myself to my country with Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Moon Jae-in, who are fond and respected by New York villagers.” I wrote. He said, “I took the responsibility of commerce and security and tried to repay the sweat and tears of the people,” he said. It is said that even though he was in charge of a special job, he would actually withdraw his hand from the field.
Throughout his tenure, Deputy General Kim has been at the center of the’discord’ between diplomatic lines with his aggressive attitude. In September 2019, Minister Kang Gyeong-hwa said, “I will not deny it” after receiving a question from an opposition party member, “Is it true that you have had a quarrel with Kim?” Two days later, Deputy General Manager Kim told Facebook, “Because I was motivated, I felt like I couldn’t afford to relax. It seems that my virtue was lacking.” Unfortunately, the two were replaced at the same time on this day.
Since then, there has been a disagreement with the peace planning secretary at the time of Choi Jong-gun, and secretary Choi eventually moved to the position with a surprise promotion to the first vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While disagreement over the core diplomatic and security lines persisted, the relationship between the two Koreas and North Korea and the United States continued to be in trouble.
Meanwhile, President Moon Jae-in appointed former KEPCO permanent audit committee member Lee Jeong-hee as vice-minister-level vice-chairman of the National Rights Commission with Kim Nae-in. In addition, Lee Shin-nam, a senior administrative officer in the office of the government affairs secretary, was appointed as the Blue House Institutional Reform Secretary, Lee Byung-hun, the head of the Small and Medium Business Research Institute, as the small and medium venture secretary, and Jeong Ki-soo, the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Policy Adviser.
Reporter Kang Tae-hwa [email protected]