President Lee Chooses Civilian for Defense Minister Position and Roh Administration Retread for Unification Minister

I don’t know why the ROK military would come under scrutiny when they are the reason the martial law attempt failed. The rank and file did not want to implement the Presidential order:

This composite photo shows Defense Minister nominee Ahn Gyu-back (L), Unification Minister nominee Chung Dong-young (C) and Foreign Minister nominee Cho Hyun. (Yonhap)

President Lee Jae Myung on Monday named five-term lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back as defense minister, the first time in 64 years that a civilian defense chief has been nominated for the post, the presidential office said.

Lee’s pick of Ahn is seen as carrying out his election pledge to reform the military, a key promise from his presidential campaign to rebuild a nation fractured by the brief imposition of martial law in December last year under his predecessor, the ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol. 

The military has come under scrutiny since Yoon deployed troops to the National Assembly when he declared martial law on Dec. 3, allegedly to block lawmakers attempting to stop his brief imposition of martial law decree. Yoon was removed from office in April over the martial law debacle.

Yonhap

Lee Jae-myung also brought another Roh Moo-hyun administration retread into his cabinet as well by naming Chung-Dong-young as his unification minister:

Lee also nominated Chung Dong-young, a journalist-turned-veteran DP lawmaker, for unification minister, responsible for inter-Korean affairs. Chung previously served as the unification minister under the Roh Moo-hyun government from 2004-05.

“Chung has unmatched experience and a firm commitment to peace on the Korean Peninsula. He’s the right person to help create conditions for dialogue with North Korea and to find a breakthrough in easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula,” Kang said.

Chung just like President Lee’s spy chief nominee Lee Jong-seok is also a pro-North Korea cheerleader. He was the Unification Minister during the Roh administration when South Korea was giving more money to North Korea than what was being paid for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance. Back then the Roh administration foolishly believed all the aid they gave to North Korea would be used to improve their economy. Instead the funding was poured into building their nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The selection of Chung for the Unification Minister position shows that the new Lee administration has learned nothing from past leftist mistakes, instead they are doubling down on them.