“Young-min Yoo is nicknamed Prime Minister of the Night”… Break through the political world with a unique affinity

“The nickname (I) given to Yoo Young-min is the prime minister of the night. The elders often arranged for three, three, five, and whole meetings among the members of the State Council.”

Lee Nak-yeon, head of the Democratic Party, told the surroundings immediately after the announcement of the new presidential secretary, Yoo Young-min. On the night of December 30 last year, Yoo was mentioned as the policy director’s card even just before reports that he was promising as the next secretary’s office came out. This is because his history of serving as the 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. However, prior to the announcement, the words of key passport officials said, “If you are the secretary, you are not the policy manager,” because of the unique affinity of Yoo. Former Member Kim Young-chun, who served as the first Minister of Oceans and Fisheries in the Moon Jae-in administration, also said, “When I was in office as Minister, Mr. Yoo received a call, day and night, saying’Let’s see.’ He remembered his affinity, saying, “The members of the state council gathered in this way had a drink and discussed big and small issues.”

The question of the politicians is how Mr. Yoo narrowed his distance from the president so much. In the Democratic Party, it was said, “Will you put an uncomfortable person in the secretary’s office?” (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. In July 2002, when the eldest son of former President Roh Moo-hyun, former presidential candidate of the Millennium Democratic Party, joined LG Electronics on a public basis, Mr. Yoo reported his support to Mr. Kun-ho according to the company custom of “avoiding children of famous politicians”. do. 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 a big player.’ A passport official from the Blue House of the Roh Moo-hyun administration remembered, “At the time, 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 member of the Blue House, Roh Moo-hyun, said, “Managing the president’s family and relatives was one of the duties of Chief Min Jeong, and the relationship with Mr. Yoo was quite a business at that time.” “It was during the 2017 presidential election that I got close in earnest.” President Moon recruited Mr. Yoo and nominated him to Haeundae Gap in Busan before the 20th general election in 2016 when he was the Democratic Party representative. At the time, one person who helped Chief Yoo said, “I was from Dongnae High School, so I recommended running for Dongnae, but I chose Haeundae Gap because I 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 political party under the representative system of Chu Mi-ae and led the campaign to recruit 1 million members of the online rights party. This became the core basis for the victory of President Moon’s primary. One Democratic Party member who participated in the first cabinet with Yoo, said, “Even though Mr. Yoo seems soft on the outside, he is a very principled person.” “There are anecdotes about his strong appearance as a minister, and President Moon may have come to trust him more. I will.”

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