Kim Tae Geun tapped as President Lee’s “eyes and ears” as Cheong Wa Dae reshuffle accelerates after political affairs and AI appointments

[Financial News] President Lee Jae Myung is accelerating the reshuffle of his Cheong Wa Dae aides. After replacing the senior secretary for political affairs and the national AI policy secretary, he has tapped Kim Tae Geun, secretary for local autonomy development, to head the Government Situation Room, which serves as the president’s “eyes and ears.”
Cheong Wa Dae said on the 8th that Kim Tae Geun, secretary for local autonomy development in the Office of the Senior Secretary for Political Affairs, had been tapped to succeed Kim Jeong-woo, who had offered to resign as head of the Government Situation Room. Rather than bringing in an outsider, the administration promoted a serving secretary from within. The head of the Government Situation Room is a key position that compiles major issues and developments on the ground and reports them to the president, supporting government decision-making and responses to unfolding situations.
The incoming head, Kim, is from Hoengseong County, Gangwon State, and has experience in both civil society work and autonomous police administration in Ulsan. He served as secretary-general of Ulsan People’s Solidarity, chair of the human rights committee at the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency, and the first chair of the Ulsan Metropolitan City Autonomous Police Commission, among other roles. About four and a half months after joining Cheong Wa Dae as secretary for local autonomy development in June, he is moving to a position where he will report on developments across government to the president.
Earlier, President Lee also made an appointment to the post of senior secretary for political affairs. On the 6th, he tapped Choi In-ho, president of the Korea Housing & Urban Guarantee Corporation (HUG), to succeed Hong Ik-pyo, who had offered to resign as senior secretary for political affairs.
The incoming senior secretary for political affairs, Choi, is a former two-term Democratic Party lawmaker and is regarded as an original member of the pro-Roh (pro-Roh Moo-hyun) faction. He served as a secretary of the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, among other roles, and is viewed as having maintained amicable relations with lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties thanks to his steady manner and affability. 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 parliamentary office when Roh was a lawmaker, and served as Deputy Spokesperson of the Blue House and domestic media secretary under the Roh administration. He was elected in the 20th and 21st general elections after running in Busan’s Saha A constituency. In the 22nd general election, he received the Democratic Party’s uncontested nomination and sought a third term, but lost to People Power Party lawmaker Lee Seong-gwon by 693 votes, or 0.79 percentage points. He took office as HUG president early this year.
Presidential Chief of Staff Lim Gwang-hyeon said when announcing the appointment that he expected Choi “to communicate with the ruling and opposition parties and the public with greater humility, and to support politics that brings the people together.”



An industry veteran has joined the team of AI policy aides. Lee Ji-su, a former managing director at Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., was tapped as national AI policy secretary, succeeding Kim Woo-chang, who had said he planned to return to academia. Lee served as a professor at Purdue University in the United States before joining Samsung Electronics in 2015, where he took part in developing the AI voice assistant New Bixby, among other projects. Following the appointment of Lee Hae-min as senior secretary for AI future planning in August, the replacement of the national AI policy secretary has also reshaped the team of aides leading AI policy.
It is also reported that Jo Han-sang, secretary for public relations planning, and Lee Min-ju, secretary for government communications, who have served since the early days of the administration, have offered to resign. If successors are appointed to both posts, the aides responsible for public outreach will also change, following those overseeing government situation reports, communication with the National Assembly, and AI policy.
Cheong Wa Dae says it will prioritize continuity of work and policy achievements in making further appointments. On the 6th, Chief of Staff Lim said additional appointments at the secretary level would be made when needed, taking into account continuity of work, reform achievements, and how tangible the results are to the public.
Meanwhile, Kim Jeong-woo, who had led the Government Situation Room since July last year, wrote on Facebook that day, “I have kept going without a break for the past 470 days,” and “I am leaving Cheong Wa Dae, where it is harder to graduate than to get in.” Kim, a former Ministry of Economy and Finance official who served as a member of the 20th National Assembly and head of the Public Procurement Service, among other roles, is being discussed as a possible candidate preparing to run in the next general election in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, or elsewhere.
[email protected] Choi Jong-geun Reporter