President Lee Myung-bak on Monday promoted Kim Chun-sig, one of his chief negotiators with North Korea, to vice minister of unification, on the advice of his close friend who became minister a month ago.

Lee is also expected to name later this week, after Wednesday’s by-elections, successors to the knowledge economy minister and chief of the Presidential Security Service who resigned last month and last week, respectively.
 
Lee was mulling former and incumbent police chiefs, one of his aides said Monday, to fill in for PSS chief Kim In-jong who was in charge of a plan to have the president move to a previously greenbelt area after retirement. Lee decided last week to cancel the purchase of a housing lot in Naegok-dong, Seocho-gu, under his son’s name and return to his existing home in Nonhyun-dong, Gangnam-gu, as opposition lawmakers questioned the legality of the contract.

Former chief of the National Police Agency Eo Cheong-soo, who was named chief director of the Korea National Park Service two months ago, and former head of Gyeonggi Province police Yoon Jae-ok are on top of the candidate list for PSS chief. Eo had stepped down as commissioner general of the NPA in early 2009, months after massive protests against U.S. beef imports. 

After replacing Kim, Lee will name a new knowledge economy minister this week to succeed Choi Joong-kyung a month after he offered to step down to take responsibility for the nationwide blackout on Oct. 15, the Cheong Wa Dae official said.

As for Kim Chun-sig, Cheong Wa Dae said Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik recommended him as the new vice minister to replace Uhm Jong-sik.

The 55-year-old chief of unification policy had met with Won Dong-yeon, deputy chief of the North Korean department of united front, in November 2009 in Gaeseong, and was revealed by Pyongyang to have been a member of the South Korean delegation to a secret meeting in May in Beijing to discuss the prospects for an inter-Korean summit.

Having studied political science at Seoul National University, Kim had taken part in the drafting of the joint statement issued at the first inter-Korean summit between former president Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)