YOON NOMINATES EDUCATION MINISTER

[Anchor Lead]

President Yoon Suk-yeol named former education and science minister Lee Ju-ho as the next deputy prime minister and education minister, a post that has been left vacant for some 50 days now. The President also nominated former Gyeonggi-do governor Kim Moon-soo to chair the Economic, Social & Labor Council, tasked to discuss labor reform.

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President Yoon Suk-yeol nominated Education Commission Asia Director Lee Ju-ho as deputy prime minister and education minister. The nomination came 52 days after previous education minister Park Soon-ae stepped down for trying to lower the school start age to five.

[Soundbite] Kim Dae-ki(Presidential Chief of Staff) : "With his experiences in education, gov‘t and legislation, he is the perfect pick to carry out the Yoon administration's education reform tasks, Such as cultivating future talents to respond to digital transition and narrowing an education gap."

The former economist also served as a lawmaker in the 17th National Assembly and as the education and science ministry's first deputy minister and then minister under the Lee Myung-bak administration. He carried out various education policies such as increasing the number of autonomous private high schools and administering scholastic achievement assessments nationwide. Former Gyeonggi-do governor Kim Moon-soo was nominated to chair the Economic, Social and Labor Council. It is a two-year minister-level post. Kim had worked as the union leader of the Dorco Labor Union that represented Korean metal workers. This is before entering politics to serve as a representative for the 15th, 16th and 17th National Assembly.

[Soundbite] Kim Dae-ki(Presidential Chief of Staff) : "With plenty of hands-on labor experiences, he is the right man to coordinate discussions and reconciliation among the gov’t, employers and employees and build a win-win labor market through labor-management cooperation."

Meanwhile, the opposition Democratic Party mocked the latest nominations as recycling the failed officials of the Lee Myung-bak administration. The education and labor sectors each had issues with the nominated figures. Lee Ju-ho is criticized as a man who worsened educational polarization but Kim Moon-soo reportedly joined ultra right assemblies and made frequent anti-labor remarks. The ruling People Power Party countered that Lee is an education expert who is the right man to resolve urgent educational issues and that Kim has devoted his whole life to building win-win labor-management relations.