As President Yoon Suk Yeol enters his third year in office, he is expected to reshuffle key cabinet ministers, including the minister and vice minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The possibility of replacing the incumbent Minister of Health and Welfare, Cho Kyoo-hong, is gaining weight, with many speculating that the current First Vice Minister of Health Welfare, Lee Ki-il, is Cho’s likely successor.
Minister Cho, who came from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, was appointed as the first vice minister of health welfare upon the inauguration of the Yoon administration. However, due to President Yoon’s failure to appoint his first health and welfare minister, Cho was appointed as the health and welfare minister in October 2022 and has since served as the minister.
For now, Yoon does not seem to consider appointing the new minister from among lawmakers. In addition to the usual difficulty in passing the confirmation hearing at the National Assembly, the chief executive reportedly feels it burdensome to weaken the governing party's already minority status by reducing its parliamentary seats even by one.
As a result, speculation is gaining momentum that First Vice Minister Lee will succeed Cho. Although there is still strong opposition from the medical community, Lee is said to Be the right person to communicate with them and organize the situation as the legal issues related to increasing the number of medical school admissions have been settled.
Lee has a proven track record within the Ministry of Health and Welfare, having served as director-general of health insurance policy, chief of healthcare policy office, and vice minister. He is trusted by ministry officials and emphasizes communication and trust with officials involved in the issues.
As a healthcare policy officer in 2018, he led discussions on medical system unification with the medical community and induced an agreement. Although the agreement ultimately fell through, Lee was praised for his ability to coordinate sensitive issues with the medical community.
In particular, when there was a vacancy in the minister’s office after President Yoon took office, Lee attended the presidential briefing with then-First Vice Minister Cho, answered the president's questions, and suggested various alternatives, making a good impression on the new chief executive.
If Lee is appointed minister, Second Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Park Min-soo will be considered his successor. Some speculate Park will leave the ministry due to his confrontation with the medical community over the medical school enrollment quota increase. However, it is widely believed that Park will remain in the ministry, given President Yoon's high level of trust in him.
Officials familiar with the situation also analyzed that removing Vice Minister Park, a symbolic figure in the medical school student increase policy, from the ministry would burden the Yoon administration when the task has not been completely fulfilled.
If Park is promoted to the first vice minister and the second ministry becomes vacant, Go Deuk-young, the current health and welfare secretary at the Office of the President, will likely be appointed vice minister. Go has served as a welfare policy officer, chief of the population policy office, and head of the planning and coordination office.
If Go returns to the health and welfare ministry, a senior-level official from the ministry will move to the presidential office. Jung Yoon-soon, the head of the ministry's Social Welfare Policy Office, is expected to be the right person for the job.