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Ji Young-mi, director of the Korea Pasteur Institute, has been appointed as the successor to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who recently expressed his resignation.

Director Ji Young-mi is also the spouse of an old friend of President Seok-yeol Yoon. The President's Office emphasized that she is the right person and expert to lead the Agency for Disease Control and Prevention.



Reporter Kim Ki-tae covered the story.



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President Yoon Seok-yeol nominated Ji Young-mi, director of the Korea Pasteur Institute, to replace Baek Kyung-ran, the head of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who recently expressed his resignation.



She served as a member of the World Health Organization's Corona 19 Emergency Committee, and as the head of the Infectious Disease Research Center at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the president of the Korean Society of Infectious Diseases.



The President's office explained the reason for the appointment, saying, "We participated in the WHO's vote to declare the COVID-19 international public health emergency and were a world-class expert who served as a member of the WHO vaccination strategy expert advisory group."



Ji is an alumnus of President Yoon's Daegwang Elementary School, a classmate of Seoul National University's law school, and the spouse of Yonsei University Law School professor Lee Chul-woo, who is known as a 'good friend'.



A high-ranking official in the President's office emphasized, "I am an expert recognized by others and the right person to lead the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention" when asked, "Did the part of Mrs.



Commissioner Baek recently expressed his resignation due to controversy over stock holdings.



Commissioner Baek was pointed out by the opposition party that he possessed bio-related stocks such as SK Bioscience and SK Biopharmaceuticals, which could cause a conflict of interest, and subsequently disposed of all those stocks.





[Baek Gyeong

-ran/Chief of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (August 30, Health and Welfare Committee of the National Assembly): The number of stocks is small, so I know that even if there is a violation of conflict of interest, it can be held if the number of stocks is small.]

I decided that I had done my best, so I expressed my gratitude.”



(Video coverage: Joo Beom and Lee Yong-han, video editing: Won-hee Won)