The South Korean Minister of National Defense, whose motto is a quote from Mao Zedong

On June 15, 2026, he visited the Air Force Academy to give a lecture to the cadets.
Minister of National Defense Ahn Kyu-baek stated during his lecture that his personal motto is Mao Zedong's "Chu-byeon-bul-gyeong (處變不驚)" (remaining calm in the face of change).
It is not even a traditional four-character idiom; it is a famous quote from Mao Zedong.
If the U.S. Secretary of Defense had said such a thing during a lecture to military cadets, he would have certainly been dismissed.
If the North Korean Minister of People's Armed Forces had done so, he would have been executed immediately.
However, in South Korea, this barely even makes the news.
What on earth is the identity of South Korea's national defense, security, and its Minister of National Defense?
If the President is exempt from military service due to a disability, at least the Minister of National Defense should be a proper veteran.
How can someone who was discharged as a Private in the local defense forces be the Minister of National Defense? Is there no sense of personnel management?
I understand the reasons why the President is exempt from military service, but
that makes it even more crucial for the Minister of National Defense to be from a proper military background.
I am not even asking for someone from a general officer background in the academies; shouldn't they at least have completed their full term as a Sergeant? Isn't this going too far?