South Korea picks its first civilian defence chief in 64 yrs

AP  Seoul

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung nominated a five-term liberal lawmaker as defence minister on Monday, breaking with a tradition of appointing retired military generals. The announcement came as several prominent former defence officials, including ex-Defence Minister Kim Yong Hyun, face high-profile criminal trials over their roles in carrying out martial law last year under then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was indicted on rebellion charges and removed from office.

Ahn Gyu-back, a lawmaker from Lee's Democratic Party, has served on the National Assembly's defence committee and chaired a legislative panel that probed the circumstances surrounding Yoon's martial law decree. 

Yoon's authoritarian move involved deploying hundreds of heavily armed troops to the National Assembly and election commission offices in what prosecutors described as an illegal attempt to shut down legislature and arrest political opponents and election officials.