President Lee names Lee Yong-cheol, a ‘Seongnam connection,’ as a justice minister nominee; Choi In-ho as senior secretary for political affairs

[Financial News] On the 6th, President Lee Jae Myung nominated DAPA Commissioner Lee Yong-cheol as candidate for justice minister and Seoul Regional Tax Office chief Ahn Deok-su as candidate for National Tax Service (NTS) commissioner. He also tapped Choi In-ho, a former Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker and current president of the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), as senior secretary for political affairs at Cheong Wa Dae. Cheong Wa Dae said, “These appointments reflect our determination to listen more to the public and communicate with them, with a focus on ensuring that people can feel the effects of policy changes in their lives.”
Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Kwang-hyun announced the appointments at a briefing at the Chunchugwan Press Center that day.
On Lee Yong-cheol, the nominee for justice minister, Lim said, “He is a lawyer from Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun) who has worked to protect human rights and promote democratic values.” He added, “He led institutional reforms to combat corruption while serving as assistant secretary for Civil Affairs II and legal affairs secretary in the Office of the Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs under the Participatory Government.” Lim went on to emphasize, “Given his legal background as well as broad administrative experience, including in structural reform, we expect him to quickly establish the new criminal justice system and deliver fair legal administration in which no one is marginalized or treated unjustly.”
The nominee was born in 1960 and graduated from Jeonju Shinheung High School and Yonsei University’s Department of Law. A lawyer by training, he passed the 31st bar examination in 1989 and is a graduate of the 21st class of the Judicial Research and Training Institute. He began his career as a special legal adviser to presidential candidate Roh Moo-hyun and, after the Roh administration took office, served as assistant secretary for Civil Affairs II and legal affairs secretary at Cheong Wa Dae. He later served as head of the Defense Acquisition System Improvement Team under the prime minister and deputy head of the DAPA launch preparatory team before becoming DAPA’s first deputy commissioner in 2006. He previously served on the transition committee when Lee was elected mayor of Seongnam and was CEO of the Seongnam Industry Promotion Foundation during Lee’s tenure as mayor, among other roles, maintaining a longstanding connection with the president. He took office as the 14th DAPA commissioner in November last year.
Asked about allegations that the nominee had been involved in the Daejang-dong scandal, Lim said, “That was taken into account during the vetting process, and we expect him to explain the details himself at the confirmation hearing.”


On NTS commissioner nominee Ahn Deok-su, Lim said, “He is a tax administration expert who has held a range of key posts, including director of the NTS Investigation Bureau, director of the Tax and Legal Affairs Bureau, and taxpayer protection officer.” He added, “We expect him to realize tax justice by pursuing malicious tax evasion and hidden assets to the very end, so that people who pay their taxes honestly do not lose out.”
President Lee also made some changes to his staff at Cheong Wa Dae. Lim said of Choi In-ho, who was tapped as the new senior secretary for political affairs, “We expect him to communicate with the ruling and opposition parties and the public with a better approach, helping foster unity and growth in our society and supporting a politics that brings the people together.”
The new senior secretary, Choi, is a former two-term DPK lawmaker and is considered part of the pro-Roh Moo-hyun and pro-Moon Jae-in camps. He served as secretary of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, among other roles, and is seen as having maintained cordial relations with lawmakers across party lines thanks to his steady and affable manner. Born in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1966, he served as student council president at Pusan National University. He entered politics as an aide in Roh Moo-hyun’s office when Roh was a lawmaker, then served as deputy spokesperson and domestic press secretary at Cheong Wa Dae under the Roh administration. He ran in Busan’s Saha A constituency and won in the 20th and 21st general elections. In the 22nd general election, he received the DPK’s uncontested nomination and sought a third term, but lost to People Power Party lawmaker Lee Seong-gwon by 693 votes, a margin of 0.79 percentage points. He took office as HUG president early this year.
Lim said, “We will continue to serve with greater humility, work harder and communicate more, while keeping our focus on people’s lives and devoting ourselves to improving them through growth for all.”
On the possibility of further changes to the presidential staff, Lim said, “Once we have reviewed personnel matters within Cheong Wa Dae, we will reach the necessary decisions at an appropriate time, taking into account continuity of work and the need for people to feel the results of reform.”
Asked about the reason senior secretary for political affairs Hong Ik-pyo had offered to resign, Lim replied, “He devoted himself to his work day and night over the past year, and achieved a great deal as well,” but did not give a specific reason.
[email protected] Choi Jong-geun, Seong Seok-woo Reporter