President Yoon Suk Yeol has appointed a retired Army major general as the new chief of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), the state arms procurement agency, his office said Friday.

Seok Jong-gun, a graduate of the Korea Military Academy and former head of the strategy and planning department of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will take office as minister of DAPA on Monday.

“Based on his expertise in military fighting power systems and remarkable coordination and command abilities, (Seok) is the right person to simultaneously build a cooperation system between the defense ministry, the military, DAPA and defense industry companies, and lead the fostering of a powerful military based on science and technology and vitalization of arms exports,” the presidential office said in a press release.

A ceremony to mark the departure of current DAPA Minister Eom Dong-hwan is scheduled to be held at the agency’s headquarters Friday.

Source: Yonhap News Agency