Who Is South Korea’s Acting President Choi Sang-mok?

South Korea’s economy, politics, and foreign policy are still reeling from President Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment and the absence of proper leadership. Amid uncertainty, attention – both positive and negative – is focused on Choi Sang-mok, South Korea’s minister of economy and finance, and also the country’s acting president since late December 2024.

Choi has been called a “genius” since high school. While majoring in law at Seoul National University (SNU), the country’s best school, he passed the national administration exam, which paves the way for high-ranking government jobs. It’s rare for full-time students to prepare for and pass the exam, as its scope and depth require a grueling study regimen. Yet he still managed to graduate from college at the top of the class. Choi also received a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell. Since then, he has held numerous important positions directing economic policies.

Choi and Yoon have been close friends since their days at SNU. Yoon appointed him as minister of finance and economy in December 2023. Yoon filled his Cabinet and other agencies with his friends and former colleagues, some of whom were underqualified, leading to concerns over corruption and ineptitude. But Choi was one of the few to escape public outrage over Yoon’s nepotism. Choi’s reputation for both intelligence and a strong work ethic insulated him from public censure.

His tenure as minister was uneventful, marked by safe management and unobtrusive leadership. It wasn’t often that South Koreans heard about Choi and his policies in the media. That changed entirely, however, in early December when it became known that Choi had been the most vociferous in opposing Yoon’s declaration of martial law at a Cabinet meeting hastily put together right before the announcement. Choi also ignored Yoon’s directive, printed out on an A4 sheet, which bade him to stop financing the National Assembly during martial law and pool funds to establish a bogus legislature to be used for rubber-stamping Yoon’s new acts.

With that, Choi instantly shook off his image as a smart yet wishy-washy bureaucrat. When Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was impeached as acting president, passing the office down to Choi, the opposition parties were optimistic about the possibility of working with him. But trouble followed as Choi did his best not to offend the right wing.

Han was impeached due to his refusal to confirm the legislature’s nomination of new Constitutional Court justices while the court considers Yoon’s impeachment. To avoid sharing Han’s fate, Choi confirmed two out of three recommended justices. The one Choi rejected has a leftist track record and would have been sure to vote in favor of confirming the National Assembly’s impeachment of Yoon. However, appointing all the National Assembly-recommended justices is a president’s constitutional duty, and the opposition was fiercely critical of Choi’s pick-and-choose approach.

In early January, when the Presidential Security Service (PSS) brawled with the police to thwart a lawfully executed arrest warrant for Yoon, Choi didn’t order the PSS to uphold the rule of law. (The PSS reports only to the president, or acting president, and Choi’s instruction could have saved a whole lot of trouble.) The opposition parties and civil groups reported him to the police on charges of dereliction of duty for deliberately not fulfilling his mandatory role as acting president.

Choi has also come under fire for continuing to veto the National Assembly’s motions calling for special counsels to fairly investigate Yoon’s short-lived self-coup and a variety of other scandals involving Yoon and the first lady.

But if we set aside the moral view – the right or wrong – of his actions, Choi’s approach thus far can be justified by the inherent nature of acting president’s remit and power. An acting president is never elected; they don’t have the mandate or political legitimacy to be bold and take a stand to tackle political animosity and stagnation. Choi’s task is merely to represent continuity on behalf of Yoon and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) until Yoon either returns to office or is impeached and a new, elected president assumes the role. Of course, it’s not a good look for Choi to be slinking around and doing the PPP’s bidding. His detractors have called him a “eunuch.”

On the flip side, there’s also been plenty of positive feedback for him. On December 29, just two days after he became acting president, a commercial airliner crash-landed and exploded in Muan, South Korea, claiming the lives of all but two of 181 passengers and crew on board. Choi immediately visited the scene of disaster, establishing and leading a disaster countermeasure task force. South Koreans saw him surrounded by a presidential entourage and talking comfortably in front of the press.

Choi successfully met the public need to see someone dependable and cool-headed appearing on the scene, reassuring the nation and presenting smooth supervision – qualities that Yoon has chronically lacked. Unlike investigations of past tragedies, which were riddled and hampered by political corruption, the one into the Jeju Air disaster is expected to be fair and transparent.

There’s been an unrelenting series of unfortunate events since Choi’s tenure as acting president began – fires and shipwrecks and a teacher stabbing a student to death. Each time, he showed due concern and adequately allocated resources to address the issue.

Befitting his specialty, Choi rolled up his sleeves to tackle South Korea’s economic issues. Demand for construction and manufactured goods has cratered. Unemployment rates among young people have soared. In response, he pledged to infuse some $20 billion into government-funded infrastructure projects and increase public-sector employment quota to generate 1 million new jobs.

On the foreign policy front, however, having to deal with the United States’ President Donald Trump is a tremendous challenge, and Choi is largely considered to not be up to the task. Trump himself doesn’t seem to want to treat South Korea’s acting president seriously. Choi has requested a call with Trump, but the White House has not yet responded.

South Korean corporations particularly want the government to hash out solutions to Trump’s tariffs. Washington’s tariff of 25 percent on foreign steel and aluminium will take effect as of March 12. Trump swore to impose tariffs on automobiles and semiconductors as well. That will have a major impact on South Korea’s export outlook. The United States is the largest importer of South Korean steel, and half of automobiles assembled in South Korea are shipped to the U.S. The profitability of South Korean semiconductors will further decline if South Korean companies have to relocate to the United States to avoid tariffs.

With domestic consumption at an all-time low, blows to exports are expected to cripple the South Korean economy as a whole. But, as acting president, Choi lacks the political credibility and longevity to be able to strike a lasting bargain with Trump.

South Korea likely has a few more months of Choi’s leadership as acting president. He may be Yoon’s person to the core, but he also represents stability – hence the opposition Democratic Party’s hesitation to impeach Choi. At least, following a new presidential election, Choi’s personality and governing style can safely oversee a smooth regime change.