The newly created Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will offer the assistant deputy minister post to Choi Kyung-lim, the chief negotiator for the ongoing free trade agreements.

The trade department, which was formerly affiliated with the Foreign Ministry, was officially merged into the trade ministry on Saturday, following the long-delayed parliamentary approval of the government organization bill on Friday.

“We have asked chief FTA negotiator Choi to take the assistant deputy minister position and to supervise the entire trade function,” Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick told reporters on Sunday, adding that he plans to treat all officials of the former trade ministry with the utmost respect.

The current law allows the ministry to officially name only two deputy ministers, but Choi, as assistant deputy minister, will be playing the role of a third deputy minister, Yoon said.

Choi is to lead the first round of the Korea-China-Japan trilateral Free Trade Agreement negotiation, which is to kick off on Tuesday at Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas.

(tellme@heraldcorp.com)