4 days ago
New chiefs named for antitrust, financial oversight
President Lee Jae Myung unveiled a sweeping reshuffle of top economic and regulatory posts, nominating a mix of veteran policymakers and academics to lead agencies that set the country's market and financial agenda.
Ju Biung-ghi, an economics professor at Seoul National University, was tapped to head the Fair Trade Commission, the country's antitrust watchdog.
A University of Rochester-trained economist, Ju has advised the presidential National Economic Advisory Council and led the Korean Association of Applied Economics.
Presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik said the nominee is expected to 'meticulously implement the administration's economic philosophy of eradicating chronic unfair practices, such as subcontracting abuses, collusion and insider transactions, and establishing a fair market order' as the new chief of the nation's 'economic prosecutor.'
Lee Eog-weon, a former first vice finance minister and macroeconomic strategist, was nominated to chair the Financial Services Commission, the country's top financial regulator.
Known for guiding the economy through the pandemic and advancing innovation-led growth, Lee also served as the first Korean chair of a WTO domestic regulation working group.
His policy track record spans international finance, market regulation and structural economic reform, giving him rare crossover expertise in both fiscal management and capital market oversight.
The government said he will be tasked with balancing market stability with reform while expanding consumer protections.
After nominating a new Financial Services Commission chair, the agency held an emergency meeting Wednesday to recommend attorney Lee Chan-jin as governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, a post that would make him the administration's first chief of the watchdog once confirmed.
A classmate of President Lee Jae Myung at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, he built his career as a labor rights advocate, serving in leadership roles at Lawyers for a Democratic Society and People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy. He also represented the president in a high-profile case involving alleged illicit payments to North Korea.
Separately, the government promoted internal candidates to lead two other agencies: Baek Seung-bo as commissioner of the Public Procurement Service and Ahn Hyung-jun as commissioner of Statistics Korea.
