President Moon Jae-in on Friday nominated Army Chief of Staff General Suh Wook as the country's new defense minister.

Born in Gwangju, Suh graduated from the Korea Military Academy in 1985. He has served in key posts such as head of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff before becoming Army Chief of Staff last year. 

Suh is the first Army official to be tapped as defense chief under the Moon Jae-in administration.

Previous defense ministers including the incumbent have been from the Navy and Air Force.