President-elect Park Geun-hye has begun forming her transition committee, whose work many observers note will hold a key to the success of her five-year term, with Thursday’s appointments of its head and deputy chief.

Her concrete ideas on the function and structure of the committee will be made clearer when she reveals the names of other members in the days to come. Park still gave a noticeable indication of how the transition team will be formed and operated through the first batch of her selections that also included members of two special panels on national reconciliation and youth affairs.

The appointments of former Constitutional Court head Kim Yong-joon and ruling party policymaker Rep. Chin Young, both of whom are known for being practical and having no political ambitions, to lead the committee appeared to signal that it would be run in a low-key and businesslike fashion. By choosing the 74-year-old former judge, who was stricken with polio in his childhood, as its head, the president-elect suggested her intent to put emphasis on the rule of law and support for those in need.

Park’s decision to set up the special panels also reflected her resolve to bridge the rift between different generations and regions, and pay more heed to unemployment and other problems facing young people.

It can be said that Park has taken largely the right direction in her initial steps toward organizing the transition work, which will continue until she is inaugurated as the country’s first female president on Feb. 25.

But those chosen or to be selected to work in her transition team should carefully listen to advice from the figures who had handled the same tasks in the past.

The key suggestion is that the transition committee should focus on setting up the framework for the work of the incoming administration by suggesting major policy agenda and avoiding delving into detailed matters. Raising voices on sensitive policy issues without thorough understanding, as shown in previous cases, would stir up unnecessary public controversies and aggravate conflicts with the incumbent administration. It is hoped that Friday’s meeting between Park and outgoing President Lee Myung-bak will help smooth out the transition work.

Park’s transition team is also required to make a cold check on the feasibility of pledges she made during the campaign. It is understandable for the president-elect to stick to her promises but it could be simply impossible to carry out all of them due to inevitable financial restrictions and changing outlooks for economic growth.

It should be the essential part of the transition work to trim down a pile of campaign pledges to core support programs and seek understanding from the public. It would help lessen the burden on the incoming president and avoid additional social conflict, which might be caused by the failure to implement the financially implausible benefit schemes.