It was announced on the 3rd that President Yoon Seok-yeol will replace the second deputy director of the National Security Office and the secretary of defense, who assist in defense affairs. It is said that former Joint Military Command General Inseong-hwan (43rd Army Reserve Major General) has been nominated as the successor to the current second vice-chancellor Lim Jong-deuk (42nd Army Corps). An official from the Presidential Office said, “Deputy Director Lim has been burdened with heavy work, including responding to security issues, for over a year, and we are considering a replacement to strengthen his assistant’s capabilities related to the ROK-US military alliance, such as joint operations.”
It is reported that the replacement of the second deputy director of the National Security Office and the secretary of defense will take place in the middle of this month or early next month at the latest. Deputy Director Lim Jong-deuk was appointed in August last year when his토토사이트 predecessor resigned due to health reasons. A security source said, “In order to prevent a vacuum in the security advisory position, I understand that the appointment will be made after sufficient work transfer and handover work has been completed between Deputy Director Lim and former President In.” It is reported that Lim Ki-hoon (47th class, Army Corps), an active-duty Army Major General and current Secretary of National Defense, will return to the military in October in accordance with the general personnel changes, and an active-duty general will be appointed as his successor.
Regarding the simultaneous replacement of the Second Deputy Director of the National Security Office and the Secretary of National Defense, an official from the Presidential Office said, “This is a regular personnel change to strengthen policy assistance capabilities.” The explanation is that the intention is to select experts in related fields to ensure the smooth implementation of the ‘Washington Declaration’ agreed upon by the leaders of Korea and the United States last April. A security source said, “President Yoon has been looking for someone who can assist with newly assigned security policy tasks, such as launching the ROK-US Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), establishing ROK-US joint exercises and operation plans, and strengthening military cooperation between Korea, the US and Japan. ” He said.
Former General In, who was nominated as the successor to the second vice-general, is an expert in ROK-US joint operations. In 1992, when he was a captain, he was the first Korean soldier to be appointed as the commander of a security company at the United Nations Command, and in 2006, he was dispatched to the Joint Planning Group of the Planning and Staff Department of the U.S. Central Command and was known to be fluent in English, performing work in response to the war against terrorism. He later worked at the U.S. Policy Department of the Ministry of Defense and the Operational Staff Department of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, then served as the Chief of Planning for the Combined Forces Command and the first Deputy Commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Division. He served as deputy division commander of a combined division, a mixed unit of the ROK-US military, and received the US government’s Meritorious Service Medal for his contribution to regularizing training on North Korean military threats and overseeing the establishment of training plans. During the last administration, he served as the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s OPCON Transition Promotion Group and the head of the Joint Military Corps, and was finally discharged as the vice commander of the 2nd Army Corps. A military source said, “I understand that former General Secretary In had differences of opinion with the military leadership during the previous administration due to his belief that the functions of the UNC should be strengthened,” and “the role of the UNC in times of emergency should be strengthened by strengthening ROK-US extended deterrence by combining US nuclear power and Korea’s non-nuclear power.” “It seems to reflect President Yoon’s intention, which he has emphasized,” he said.