South Korean president names first civilian defence minister in over 60 years

Ahn Gyu Back has served on parliament’s defence committee and chaired panel that investigated former leader Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration

South Korea’s new leader has named a civilian defence chief for the first time in over six decades as he seeks to move the country on from his predecessor’s disastrous attempt to impose martial law.

President Lee Jae Myung nominated five-term liberal lawmaker Ahn Gyu Back as the defence minister, breaking with a tradition of appointing retired military generals.

Mr Ahn, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Party, has served on the National Assembly's defence committee and chaired a legislative panel that investigated the circumstances surrounding former president Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law declaration.

His appointment comes as prominent former defence officials, including former defence minister Kim Yong Hyun, face criminal trials over their roles in imposing martial law last December.

Mr Ahn faces a legislative confirmation hearing but the process is likely to be a formality since the Democrats hold a comfortable majority in the National Assembly and legislative consent isn't required for Mr Lee to appoint him. If his nomination is approved, Mr Ahn will become the first civilian defence minister since the military coup of 1961 brought dictator Park Chung Hee to power.

All of South Korea's defence ministers since that coup have come from the military. The trend continued even after the country's democratisation in the late 1980s.

"As the first civilian minister of defence in 64 years, he will be responsible for leading and overseeing the transformation of the military after its mobilisation in martial law," Kang Hoon Sik, the president's chief of staff, said, referring to Mr Ahn.

The newly elected president also named lawmaker Chung Dong Young as the unification minister and Cho Hyun, the former permanent representative to the UN, as his foreign minister. Mr Cho served as Seoul's point person for relations with North Korea from 2004 to 2005.

Kim Young Hoon, a railway driver and former president of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, was nominated as labour minister.

Mr Lee named 11 ministers on Monday as he worked to form a cabinet and staff his office. He took office earlier this month without a transition period as Mr Yoon had been ousted for breaching the duties of his office with the martial law decree.