South Korea President Lee Jae Myung has chosen a former vice finance minister, Koo Yun-cheol, to be his finance minister, his office said on Sunday.

Koo is widely known as a policy expert, serving different positions across the government and authoring books on South Korea's innovation and growth, most recently on artificial intelligence, Lee's chief of staff, Kang Hoon-sik, told a briefing.

Among other ministerial positions, Lee named Kim Jung-kwan, president of power plant builder Doosan Enerbility and a veteran bureaucrat in economics, energy and public policy, to be industry minister.

Kim fits the role to realise President Lee's "energy mix philosophy", Kang said, referring the new leader's aim to balance nuclear power and renewable energy.

The former head of South Korea's disease control agency, Jeong Eun-kyeong, was nominated for health minister. She was highly praised for her response to the Covid-19 pandemic, becoming one of the Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2020.

Cabinet nominations in South Korea must be vetted by hearings in parliament. But presidents may appoint their nominees even without parliament approval, and Lee's Democratic Party has a majority in parliament. (Reuters)