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President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s picks for his transition team’s second subcommittee for economic affairs (from left to right): Lee Chang-yang, professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, to head the subcommittee; Wang Yun-jong, Dongduk Women’s University professor; former SK Telecom executive Ryu Woong-hwan; ATEAM Ventures co-founder Ko San.

Based on the names of its subcommittees alone, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidential transition committee, which was finalized on Thursday, seems to be setting aside a number of agendas typically considered by the presidential transition team, such as women’s issues and reunification. Also missing from the committee’s roster are experts specializing in agendas the Yoon administration should urgently deal with, such as those related to climate change, education, and real estate.

A close look at the roster of three subcommittees under the transition team — the second subcommittee for economic affairs; the subcommittee for science, technology, and education; and the subcommittee for social affairs, welfare, and culture — reveals that essential expert groups specializing in women’s issues, education, climate change and real estate are not included in the list.

Lee Chang-yang, professor at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, was appointed to lead the second subcommittee for economic affairs, whose members include Dongduk Women’s University professor Wang Yun-jong, former SK Telecom executive Ryu Woong-hwan, and ATEAM Ventures co-founder Ko San. The appointees are former officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, executives of large corporations, or entrepreneurs whose expertise has nothing to do with real estate.

The situation is similar within the subcommittee for social affairs, welfare, and culture, which will be responsible for women’s issues. To be led by labor expert and People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker Lim Lee-ja, the subcommittee is made up of the appointees Ahn Sang-hoon, the Seoul National University professor of social work who designed Yoon’s welfare platform; Peck Kyong-ran, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine professor who will take charge of issues concerning South Korea’s COVID-19 response; and Kim Do-shik, deputy mayor of Seoul and a close associate of Ahn Cheol-soo.

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s picks for his transition team’s subcommittee for social affairs, welfare, and culture (from left to right): People Power Party lawmaker Lim Lee-ja to head the subcommittee; Ahn Sang-hoon, Seoul National University professor of social work; Peck Kyong-ran, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine professor; Kim Do-shik, deputy mayor of Seoul.

The subcommittee’s roster was anticipated with interest, as the transition team’s subcommittee organization announcement from earlier didn’t include a subcommittee whose name contained the word “women.” However, none of the social affairs, welfare, and culture subcommittee appointees turned out to be women’s issue specialists. When asked about the matter, Yoon’s spokesperson Kim Eun-hye stated, “It’s expected that Rep. Lim, as a subcommittee leader, will accurately deal with women’s issues with an emphasis on [labor issues].” The 2012 presidential transition team of former President Park Geun-hye had a separate subcommittee for “women’s issues and culture.”

Yoon’s presidential transition committee is also drawing criticism for neglecting future-oriented agendas such as education and climate change. The subcommittee for science, technology, and education included PPP lawmaker Park Sung-joong as its leader, as well as Hanyang University Center for Creative Convergence Education professor Kim Chang-kyung and Seoul National University material engineering professor Nam Ki-tae.

All three appointees are science and technology experts: Park specializes in information and communication technology, Kim served as vice minister of education, science and technology during the Lee Myung-bak administration, and Nam is a recipient of the 2018 Young Scientist Award. Education and climate change experts were completely excluded from the subcommittee’s roster. This may be an indication of the influence of presidential transition team head Ahn Cheol-soo, who has placed emphasis on developing South Korea into a science and technology powerhouse.

Before his campaign merger with Yoon, Ahn promised to abolish the Ministry of Education and appoint the National Education Commission as the main decision-maker of education policies if he was elected president. This has led to projections that the Education Ministry may even be scrapped under the Yoon administration.

The subcommittee for foreign affairs and security, which was announced on Tuesday, includes former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Sung-han as its leader. Other appointees of the subcommittee are Kim Tae-hyo, former presidential secretary of national security strategy, and Lee Jong-sup, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Kim Sung-han is a US expert, while Kim Tae-hyo is one of the key figures who advised the Lee Myung-bak administration to take a tough stance on North Korea, which has led to criticisms that matters concerning reunification are being neglected by Yoon’s transition team.

The presidential transition teams of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye both operated subcommittees that dealt with reunification: the subcommittee for foreign affairs, reunification, and security in the case of the former, and the subcommittee for foreign affairs, national defense, and reunification in the case of the latter.

By Kim Mi-na, staff reporter; Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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