Yoo Sang-im, newly appointed nominee for minister of science and ICT, speaks as he attends a briefing held at the presidential office in Yongsan District, Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

Yoo Sang-im, a professor of materials engineering at Seoul National University, has been nominated to be the next minister of science and ICT, the presidential office announced Thursday.

The 65-year-old professor, renowned for his research in the areas of superconductors and magnetic materials, vowed to leverage his expertise to ensure that Korea keeps pace with the rapid changes of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

"I feel an immense responsibility and a sense of calling as I am nominated to be the minister of science and ICT, a field that has long served as the foundation of Korea's development," Yoo said during a brief meeting with reporters at the presidential office on Thursday. "I will make the utmost effort to address the various issues accumulated within the science ministry and to respond to the rapidly changing environment of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, ensuring that Korea can lead on the global stage," the minister nominee added.

The professor has led numerous academic societies, including the Korean Society of Superconductivity and Cryogenics and the Korean Ceramic Society.

Since earning his bachelor's degree at Seoul National University in 1982 and his master's in inorganic materials engineering from the same institution in 1984, he went on to obtain his doctorate in materials science and engineering from Iowa State University in 1992.

Yoo's nomination coincides with President Yoon Suk Yeol's appointment of three other vice ministers to key positions, including the presidential advisory council for unification, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Office for Government Policy Coordination (OPC).

This move is seen as the Yoon administration's effort to inject new energy into the government by bringing in fresh talent, as it nears the midpoint of its five-year term.

From left are Tae Yong-ho, nominee to lead the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council, Kim Sung-sup, nominee for the vice minister of SMEs and startups, and Nam Hyung-ki, nominee for the second deputy chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination (OPC). Courtesy of presidential office

With the presidential appointments on Thursday, Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean deputy ambassador to the U.K. who later became an elected lawmaker in South Korea, was chosen to serve as the secretary general of the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council.

Tae, born in Pyongyang in 1962, is the first North Korean defector to hold a deputy ministerial post since the council was established in 1980.

"He is the most appropriate candidate to facilitate the establishment of a peaceful unification policy based on liberal democracy, while garnering support from both home and abroad," the presidential office said in a press release, citing his vivid experience of living in North Korea and his expertise as a former member of the Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee at the National Assembly.

Tae defected to South Korea in 2016 in a high-profile move by a ranking North Korean diplomat. He was elected in the affluent district of Gangnam in Seoul in 2020 as a lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party.

The president also named Kim Sung-sup, presidential secretary for SMEs and startups, as the SME ministry's new vice minister, and Nam Hyung-Ki, a director of the OPC as the second deputy chief of the ministry.