President Moon Jae-in on Sunday appointed Vice Health Minister Kim Ganglip, known for his daily coronavirus briefing, as the new minister for food and drug safety in a reshuffle that also affected 11 other vice minister-level posts.

Moon also appointed Vice Labor Minister Lim Seo-jeong as senior presidential secretary for jobs and Park Jin-kyu, a former presidential secretary for New Southern and New Northern policies, as vice minister of trade, industry and energy, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok said at a press briefing.

Kim has become well known to the public for his nationally televised press briefings on the coronavirus pandemic.

Yang Seong-il, a senior health ministry official, was named to succeed Kim as vice health minister; Park Hwa-jin, a senior labor ministry official, was appointed as vice labor minister; and Yun Seong-won, a former presidential secretary for land, infrastructure and transport, as vice minister for land, infrastructure and transport.

"We have forward deployed individuals with an understanding of the Moon Jae-in government's administrative philosophy and work ability to front-line ministries," Kang said.

"This is to accelerate the output of administrative results, promote internal reform of the public sector and carry out the administrative tasks of the second half (of the president's term) in a stable manner," he added. (Yonhap)