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Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul. / Cheong Wa Dae

Defense Minister nominee Kang Shin-chul will report to his nominee office for the first time on the 3rd.

The Ministry of National Defense announced on the 2nd that Kang will report to his office starting on the 3rd to prepare for his parliamentary confirmation hearing. The hearing is expected to take place between the 14th and the 18th.

President Lee Jae-myung recently nominated Kang as the next Minister of National Defense. Kang has served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Saudi Arabia under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since January.

Born in Seoul in 1968, Kang graduated from the Korea Military Academy as part of its 46th class. Commissioned in 1990, he has held key military posts across the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), and the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC). Notably, he draws attention for having been appointed to critical roles regardless of whether progressive or conservative administrations were in power.

During the Park Geun-hye administration, he served as military aide to then-Defense Minister Han Min-koo, head of operations at the First ROK Army, superintendent of the Army College, and commander of the Army's 11th Mechanized Infantry Division. Under the Moon Jae-in administration, he served at the Cheong Wa Dae National Security Office as defense reform secretary and later as security and defense strategy secretary. Following the inauguration of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, he was appointed director of operations at the JCS and subsequently tapped as deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. CFC.

                                                                                                             Lee Han-sol