President Park Geun-hye replaced her chief of staff and four senior secretaries on Monday to reinvigorate her administrative drive as she enters the second half of her first year in office.

Kim Ki-choon, a former prosecutor-general, justice minister and three-term lawmaker, replaced Huh Tae-yeol in Park’s first presidential office reshuffle, carried out 162 days after her inauguration.

Kim, 74, is a member of the so-called “seven-member circle,” an unofficial group comprised of veteran politicians offering political and administrative advice to Park.

Park also named seasoned diplomat and former Ambassador to the European Union Park Joon-woo, 60, as her new senior political affairs secretary. Well known for his negotiating skills and expertise in Northeast Asia, Park Joon-woo fills the seat that has been left vacant since early June after a sexual assault scandal involving Park’s first spokesman Yoon Chang-jung.

The case led to the resignations of Yoon and his direct supervisor Lee Nam-ki. Lee Jung-hyun, then senior secretary for political affairs, took over Yoon’s responsibilities.

The designation of Park Joon-woo, who is not a politician, to the seat was seen as unexpected choice.

Three other senior secretaries were announced: former senior prosecutor Hong Kyung-shik, 62, as senior secretary for civil affairs; information technology expert Yoon Chang-bun, 59, for future strategy; and former Vice Health Minister Choi Won-young, 55, for employment and welfare.

“The personnel decision was made in order to promote a more active push on administration and for a new start in the second half of this year,” said Lee Jung-hyun at a press briefing.

Lee added there would be no reshuffle of Cabinet members for now.

Signs of a personnel shakeup had been spotted in the past several weeks as Park reportedly expressed dissatisfaction toward lagging administrative momentum and a series of controversies involving personnel appointments of public companies.

Cheong Wa Dae has also recently become more exposed to the growing political strife over the National Intelligence Service’s alleged interference in last year’s presidential election with the main opposition Democratic Party demanding a direct meeting with the president over the matter.

Former senior secretary for civil affairs Kwak Sang-do has been blamed for consecutive personnel fallouts and uncommunicativeness since the Park administration’s inauguration. The senior secretaries for employment and welfare and future planning had been criticized for failing to implement Park’s key visions on better welfare and a creative economy.

“I am determined to dedicate my best efforts to support the president realize her state vision and philosophy without fail, in order to make the country a place where every citizen is equally well and happy, by using my state and parliamentary experience that I accumulated in the past,” Kim Ki-choon said.

The latest appointments also proved Park’s preference for figures with legal backgrounds by calling two former prosecutors to her side, observers said. Currently former prosecutors Chung Hong-won and Hwang Kyo-ahn serve as prime minister and justice minister, respectively.


By Lee Joo-hee
(jhl@heraldcorp.com)