S.Korea Reshuffles Cabinet

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 29, 2002

S.Korea Reshuffles Cabinet

South Korea Tuesday made a sweeping cabinet reshuffle, changing nine ministers of the 19-member cabinet and also replacing six of eight senior presidential secretaries.

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South Korean President Kim Dae-jung Tuesday reshuffled his cabinet, changing nine ministers of the 19-member cabinet to restore public confidence in his government because of corruption scandals involving high-ranking officials.

Meanwhile, in a shakeup of his senior secretariat team, President Kim replaced six senior secretaries while appointing Jeon Yun-churl as his chief of staff and Park Jie-won as president's special assistant for policy.

The reshuffles were made on a basis of consideration of stability of state affairs, expertise, non-political background and regional balance, said the Presidential Office.

Retaining Prime Minister Lee Han-dong and other ministers is tostabilize state affairs and economy, which is showing signs of recovery.

By retaining Lee as prime minister, Kim also avoided the political issue of appointing a new one through a parliamentary hearing, a process which is sure to meet great troubles in opposition parties-controlled parliament.

Expertise has played a key role in the new appointments as mostof them are experts in their respective fields with rich experience while those appointed previously for political reason were removed from their positions.

Now there is no career politician or lawmaker in the new cabinet. It is seen as a measure to create a strong "working team"for President Kim's last year in office and to restore public confidence for his government due to financial scandals which havebrought down senior officials.

In addition, President Kim also made the new cabinet reflect a regional balance as opposition parties had accused Kim of appointing his townmates as more as possible.

Of the new ministers, three are from the opposition's stronghold in Kyongsang region, three from President Kim's hometown, Cholla region, two from Chungchong region and one from Kangwon Province.

The ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) hailed the reshuffle. MDP Spokesman Lee Nak-yon said that Kim President has showed his will to complete reforms and various policies of the government.

However, the major opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and minor United Liberal Democrats (ULD) attacked President Kim Dae-jung for the reshuffle.

The GNP criticized that the cabinet shakeup fell short of expectations, accusing Kim's government of using the reshuffle to divert public attention from corruption scandals.

In an official statement, GNP Spokesman Nam Kyong-phil said it reconfirmed the fact that President Kim has no will to reform state affairs.

ULD Spokesman Chung Jin-seok said Kim paid no attention to South Korean people's hopes and wishes.

Those who should have been retained were replaced, and those who should have been replaced were retained, said the spokesman.

In addition, some observers said President Kim advanced the reshuffle for other reasons as 2002 is a very important year for South Korea, which will see World Cup finals and election of localgovernments in June and the 16th presidential election in December.

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