President Lee Jae-myung on the 30th named former deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command Kang Shin-chul as nominee for Minister of National Defense. Kang has served since January as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Saudi Arabia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Born in Seoul in 1968, Kang graduated from the 46th class of the Korea Military Academy and was commissioned in 1990. After serving in field units, he worked as policy chief at the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command and as operations planning chief at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and has been active as an expert in military strategy and defense policy.
He later served as secretary for defense reform at the Office of National Security, secretary for security and defense strategy, deputy commander of the Ground Operations Command, and director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), before becoming deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command. He retired last year as a full general.
Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik said, "Kang is a former four-star general who has held key military posts," adding, "based on the firm ROK-U.S. alliance, we expect him to boldly and swiftly open a new path of defense innovation, including strengthening autonomous defense capabilities to prepare for future warfare and integrating the service academies."