President Lee Jae-myung on the 3rd appointed former Supreme Court Justice Kim Ji-hyeong as Chairperson of the Economic, Social and Labor Council, a social dialogue body among labor, management, and government. Kim, a former judge, served as head of the Samsung Compliance Committee for two years starting in 2020 and is currently the managing partner at the law firm Jipyong. As the first head of the Economic, Social and Labor Council under the Lee Jae-myung administration, he is expected to push discussions to restore the labor-management-government cooperation framework and to build social consensus on labor market reform.
Presidential office Spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said at a briefing at the Yongsan presidential office in the afternoon that "Kim is one of the leading authorities on labor law in the courts and has worked to protect the socially vulnerable," adding that "to resolve various issues of work and the workplace, he is the right person to lead fair social dialogue as Chairperson of the Economic, Social and Labor Council."
On the same day, Lee also appointed Kim Yong-seon, head of the Korea Intellectual property Protection Agency (KOIPA), as intellectual property Minister, and Ryu Hyun-cheol, chair of the Occupational and Environmental Health Center, as head of the industrial safety headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL). Kim, the new Minister, passed the 37th civil service exam and served as Vice Administrator of the Korean Intellectual Property Office and as presiding judge of the Intellectual Property Trial and Appeal Board. Ryu, the new head, served as director of the Korea Labor, Safety and Health Research Institute and as a board member of the Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.