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President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol stands with his picks to head eight of the country’s ministries on April 10 at the presidential transition committee’s offices in the Tongui neighborhood of Seoul. (pool photo)

When South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol released his slate of nominees to lead eight government ministries on Sunday, the average nominee was a 60.5-year-old man from Korea’s southeast region of Yeongnam. Yoon described his nominations as being based on merit, but the lack of representation for women and young people has prompted criticism that Yoon is failing to live up to his espoused value of “unity.”

All the ministerial nominees that Yoon announced Sunday are in their 50s and 60s. The oldest nominee, at 68, is Park Bo-gyoon, former editor for the JoongAng Ilbo, whom Yoon has tapped to head the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, while the youngest are both aged 56: Kim Hyun-sook, nominee to lead the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, and Lee Jong-ho, nominee to head up the Ministry of Science and ICT.

While running for president, Yoon had pledged to appoint young people as government ministers. “There will be a lot of ministers in their 30s in the digital platform government that I envision,” he said at one point, later adding, “I said I would bring a lot of young people into the workings of government if I’m put in charge, and I wasn’t merely trying to win over millennials.”

But he has yet to follow through on that pledge in his actual appointments.

In terms of birthplace, five of the eight nominees were born in Yeongnam, with only three born elsewhere — Kim Hyun-sook is from North Chungcheong Province, Won Hee-ryong is from Jeju Island, and Park Bo-gyoon is from Seoul. Yoon had previously taken flack for filling his presidential transition committee with male graduates of Seoul National University in their 50s, and now his Cabinet seems to be moving in a similar direction.

Significantly, Kim Hyun-sook, who has been named to lead the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, is the only woman on the list of nominees. And since that ministry is scheduled to be reorganized, Kim is likely to only hold the position for a short time, even assuming she clears appointment hearings in the National Assembly.

In addition, Yoon’s nomination of Won Hee-ryong to lead the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has prompted pushback from the Democratic Party because Won played a leading role in accusing Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of being implicated in the Daejang neighborhood corruption scandal.

“[Won’s] selection must be understood as a reward for orchestrating a political hit job and misinformation during the presidential election. This unilateral move does not exhibit the slightest consideration for the Democratic Party as a governing partner,” said Koh Yong-jin, senior spokesperson for the Democratic Party.

Another criticism of Yoon’s slate of nominees is that it doesn’t reflect any determination to resolve the sharp disagreements that have formed along ideological, gender and generational lines. Yoon even set up a “national unity panel” to report directly to him, but that apparently hasn’t had any impact on his nominees.

“I can’t see anything that corresponds to the values of ‘unity’ or ‘cooperative governance’ that Yoon proclaimed shortly after his election. There’s nothing impressive about these appointments,” said Eom Gyeong-yeong, director of the Zeitgeist Institute.

The minority Justice Party attacked the appointments on Sunday as “a jamboree for men in their 60s from Gyeongsang Province,” another name for the southeastern Yeongnam region.

“The transition committee was stuffed with male graduates of Seoul National University in their 50s, with women only representing 4 of 27 committee members. And now we’re getting a Cabinet that’s dominated by men in their 60s from Gyeongsang Province,” Jang Tae-soo, party spokesperson, said Sunday in a press statement.

“You can’t help wondering what happened to Yoon’s braggadocio about appointing not a couple, but several, ministers in their 30s. It’s regrettable that he has gone back on his word with these ministerial appointments,” Jang added.

“The supreme value the president should pursue is national unity. There are troubling indications that Yoon mistakenly views ‘balance’ and ‘harmony’ as a chance to ‘divide the spoils,’ said Koh, the Democratic Party spokesperson, hinting that Yoon’s nominees will face a rigorous confirmation process.

Yoon declined to respond in detail to this criticism, only remarking that he thinks “appointments to high office and the standards for assessing them should be viewed from the public’s point of view.”

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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