South Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday named Choo Kyung-ho to be deputy prime minister and finance minister, as the country seeks to tackle surging inflation, household debt and demand for welfare.
Yoon, who takes office on May 10, announced eight Cabinet minister nominations, including defense, industry, health and land. All are subject to parliamentary confirmation hearings.
As deputy prime minister, Choo, 62, would double as finance minister and oversee economic policy, replacing Hong Nam-ki.
Photo: Reuters
Choo is a second-term lawmaker in Yoon’s conservative People Power Party. He served 33 years in government roles including vice minister of economy and finance, and vice chairman of the Financial Services Commission.
His nomination came as Asia’s fourth-largest economy faces challenges of quelling decade-high inflation without destabilizing markets as recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
Standing with Choo, Yoon said the nominee would facilitate policy coordination among agencies and with the parliament.
“The current economic situation are extremely serious, and internal and external circumstances are tough,” Choo told a news conference, citing inflation and slowing growth. “The new government’s top priority is to stabilize prices and people’s livelihoods.”
South Korea’s economy last year grew 4 percent, highest in 11 years, but is expected to slow down this year and consumer inflation is at a decade-high of 4.1 percent amid global supply shocks and disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As a member of the presidential transition committee, Choo has been working to draw up an extra budget plan to support small businesses and self-employed people who have been affected by COVID-19.
Yoon nominated Lee Jong-sup, a retired military commander who formerly served as deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be defense minister.
The incoming president is mapping out his foreign policy agenda just as tension flares after North Korea launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile last month.
Lee said he would bolster Seoul’s independent response capability and “maximize US deterrence” to counter the North’s threats.
A team of Yoon’s foreign policy and security advisers last week said that they discussed redeploying US strategic assets, such as nuclear bombers and submarines, to South Korea during talks with Washington officials.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
IT’S A DEAL? Including the phrase ‘overlapping claims’ in a Chinese-Indonesian joint statement over the weekend puts Jakarta’s national interests at risk, critics say Indonesia yesterday said it does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights. Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian neighbors over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a “nine-dash line” on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries. Joint agreements with China in the strategic waterway have been sensitive for years, with some nations wary of deals they fear could be interpreted as legitimizing Beijing’s vast claims. In 2016,
RSS