Jeong Kyeong-doo
정경두


Minister of National Defense
In office 21 September 2018 – 18 September 2020
President	Moon Jae-in
Preceded by	Song Young-moo
Succeeded by	Suh Wook
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
In office 2017–2018
President	Moon Jae-in
Preceded by	Gen. Lee Sun-jin
Succeeded by	Gen. Park Han-ki
Chief of Staff of the Air Force
In office 2015–2017
President	Park Geun-hye
Preceded by	Gen. Choi Cha-kyu
Succeeded by	Gen. Lee Wang-keun

Personal details
Born	(1960-09-13) 13 September 1960 (age 63)^[1] Jinju, South Korea
Alma mater	Korea Air Force Academy Hannam University
Military service
Allegiance	South Korea
Branch/service	Republic of Korea Air Force
Years of service	1982–2020
Rank	General

Korean name
Hangul	정경두
Hanja	鄭景斗
Revised Romanization	Jeong Gyeongdu
McCune–Reischauer	Chŏng Kyŏngdu

Jeong Kyeong-doo (Korean: 정경두; born 13 September 1960) is the 46th Minister of National Defense of South Korea.^[2]^[3] He was a former fighter pilot and General of the Republic of Korea Air Force serving as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Air Force Chief of Staff.

Early life and education

Jeong was born on September 13, 1960, in Jinju, South Korea. He graduated from Daea High School in 1978. Jeong graduated from the Korea Air Force Academy in 1982. He studied at the Air Command and Staff Course (in 1995) and the Air War Course (in 2005) of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), Jeong also has a MA in Management of the Graduate School of Business, Hannam University in 2002.^[1]

Career

Jeong received his commission from the Air Force Academy in 1982. In 2004, he was promoted to Colonel, serving as Chief of the Force Requirement Division at the Air Force HQ from 2006 to 2008, and Cadets Group Commander, Air Force Academy from 2008 to 2009. After his promotion to brigadier general in 2009, he was made Commander of the 1st Fighter Wing in Gwangju Air Base (2009-2011). Other major assignments including Commander, Force Service Support Group-Gyeryongdae (2011), Deputy Chief of Staff (A-5) of the Air Force HQ (2011-2013), Commander of the Southern Combat Command (2013-2014), Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (2014-2015), Chief Director (J-5) of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2015) before promoted to four-star rank to serve as the Air Force Chief of Staff in 2015.^[1]

Upon the beginning of Moon Jae-in's presidency in 2017, Jeong was appointed as chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff - the second air force background to assume such post.^[4] In 2018 he was promoted to as Moon's second defense minister.

Controversy

The "Republic of Korea Guardian Reserve Forces", a newly formed group of Korean Armed Forces retired generals and reservists led by General Paik Sun-yup, which its members included three former defense ministers, a former chief of the South Korean joint chiefs of staff, and commanders of the navy and marines, oppose the Sept. 19 agreement of President Moon Jae-in due to the engagement with North Korea has gone too far. The group of retired generals condemned Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo for "pandering to politicians".^[5]