President Lee Jae-myung on the 1st appointed Ha Joon-kyung, senior presidential adviser for economic growth, as policy chief, succeeding Kim Yong-beom. Moon Shin-hak, second vice minister of trade, industry and energy, was tapped as the new senior adviser for economic growth.
Sung Ki-hong, senior presidential adviser for public communication, announced the appointments at a briefing at the presidential office. Sung described Ha as "a leading scholar who has combined fair growth and the easing of polarization into growth strategy," adding that "as the first economic adviser of the Lee Jae-myung administration, he demonstrated the capacity to turn the Korea discount into a Korea premium." He said he expects Ha to "bridge social and economic policy and bring about policy changes that everyone can feel in areas directly tied to people's lives, such as welfare, jobs, education and housing."
Sung introduced Moon as "an expert in the real economy who has held key posts across industry and energy." He said Moon would "not only move quickly on new growth engines such as the three mega projects, drawing on his record of leading the development of advanced industries including semiconductors and artificial intelligence, but also drive a recovery in the potential growth rate through an execution-focused economic growth strategy."
On the reshuffle, Sung said the aim was "to reflect the public's voice more faithfully in state affairs, in line with the president's intent to pay closer attention to the public's will and their lives." He added that the appointments "focused on strengthening policy capacity and execution in state affairs — carrying the clear momentum of economic growth through to the livelihood economy, putting more weight on social policy that substantially changes people's lives, and shoring up foreign affairs and security."
