The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Yoon names chief of overseas Korean agency

By Korea Herald

Published : June 2, 2023 - 12:12

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Veterans Minister Park Min-shik (Presidential Office) Veterans Minister Park Min-shik (Presidential Office)

President Yoon Suk Yeol has named Lee Key-cheol, former Korean ambassador to the Netherlands, to head a new government body overseeing the interests of 7.5 million overseas Koreans launched Friday.

Lee also previously served as consul general in Los Angeles and is currently secretary-general of UNICEF Korea.

The new agency is intended to offer streamlined services from visas to taxes and pensions to overseas Koreans, which includes citizens living abroad as well as noncitizens with Korean familial roots.

Yoon also assigned Park Min-shik, the incumbent veterans minister, to continue to lead the ministry, which gained a full-fledged ministry status on Monday. Vice Veterans Minister Yoon Jong-jin was also named as vice minister of the upgraded Veterans Ministry.