South Korea Replaces Prime Minister, Six Ministers

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, July 12, 2002

South Korea Replaces Prime Minister, Six Ministers

South Korean President Kim Dae-jungreplaced the prime minister and six other ministerial posts on Thursday prior to December presidential election in December, official sources said.

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South Korea President Kim Dae-jung Thursday nominated Ewha Womans University President Chang Sang as acting prime minister and appointed other six new ministers in a cabinet shakeup, Yonhap News reported.

Lee Jun, former chairman of the National Defense Reform Committee under the Ministry of National Defense, has been appointed National Defense Minister to replace Kim Dong-shin, who was criticized by rival political parties and local media for the inter-Korea clash on June 29.

Former Justice Minister Kim Jung-kil returns to that post which he held between June 1999 and May 2001, replacing Song Jeong-ho.

Korea Research Foundation Chairman Kim Sung-jae and South Korea's biggest telecom operator Korea Telecom's president Lee Sang-chul have been respectively appointed Minister of Culture and Tourism and Minister of Information and Communication.

Public Procurement Service Administrator Kim Sung-ho has been appointed Health and Welfare Minister, Kim Ho-shik, Minister of the Office of Government Policy coordination, has been named as Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister, and Senior Presidential Secretary for Policy and Planning Kim Jin-pyo named to head up the policy coordination office under the Prime Minister's Office.

President Kim also appointed former army General Kim Suk-jae as chairman of the Emergency Planning Commission.

Kim Dae-jung launched the cabinet shakeup less than two weeks after the occurrence of the naval skirmish between South Korea andthe Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and five months before the presidential election slated in December.

Profile of Chang Sang

Chang, 62, born in October 1939 in Yongcheon, Pyeonganbuk-do province, now in the DPRK.

She graduated from the Mathematics Department of Ewha Womans University in 1962 and received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1976.

She taught philosophy and theology at her alma mater since 1977 and served as the school's president since September 1996.

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