Kim picks 'technocratic' team

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Tuesday carried out a long foreshadowed cabinet reshuffle - his third in 10 months - changing eight cabinet ministers and replacing six senior secretaries.

In addition, the minister-level post of head of the Presidential Commission on Small and Medium Business changed hands.

Mr. Kim named his chief of staff, Lee Sang-joo, deputy prime minister of education, and brought back to political life Park Jie-won, a trusted aide and former senior secretary for policy and planning, who was sacrificed two months ago in a party revolt against old-guard factionalism. Mr. Park will fill a newly created post as special adviser to the president for policy.

The overhaul of senior secretaries brought in a new lineup that includes the nation's first female presidential spokesman, Park Sun-sook. The new chief of staff, replacing Mr. Lee, is Jeon Yun-churl, minister of planning and budget.

Prime Minister Lee Han-dong, Deputy Prime Minister for Finance and Economy Jin Nyum, and Shin Kuhn, director of the National Intelligence Service - targets of rumor and speculation earlier in the week - were retained. Also retained was Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo, current president of the UN General Assembly.

The president replaced Unification Minister Hong Soon-young with a former deputy unification minister, Jeong Se-hyun, who led the April 1998 inter-Korean dialogue, the first dialogue between the two Koreas in the Kim Dae-jung administration. Song Jeong-ho, head of Legal Research and Training Institute, becomes minister of justice, and Chang Seung-woo, a member of the Bank of Korea's Monetary Board, will be minister of planning and budget, replacing Mr. Jeon.

"The prime minister and the economic team have been retained for stability in state affairs," said Lee Sang-joo, as he carried out his last duty as chief of staff. "And to ensure neutrality in the upcoming elections, we have replaced politicians-turned-ministers."

Mr. Kim sacked all five ministers who at the same time were serving National Assembly representatives from the ruling Millennium Democratic Party.

He named as minister of science and technology, Chae Yung-bok, head of the Korea Research Council of Fundamental Science and Technology; as minister of health and welfare, Lee Tae-bok, senior secretary for welfare and labor; and as labor minister, Bang Yong-suk, president of Korea Gas Safety Corp.

The new minister of commerce, industry and energy is Shin Kook-hwan, who served in the same post from August 2000 to March 2001. Han Chun-ho becomes head of the Presidential Commission on Small and Medium Business.

The president made greater-than-expected changes in the lineup of his senior secretaries. He recruited Kim Jin-pyo, vice minister of finance and economy, as senior secretary for policy and planning, and Cho Soon-yong, executive director at Korean Broadcasting System, as senior secretary for political affairs. The secretary for policy and planning, Han Duck-soo, replaces the embattled senior secretary for economic affairs, Lee Ki-ho. Yim Sung-joon, de-puty foreign minister, becomes senior secretary for foreign policy and national security, and Kim Sang-nam, former vice minister of labor, will be senior secretary for welfare and labor.

"The overhaul of the senior secretaries is to strengthen the president as he carries out major government tasks and international events," said Mr. Lee, the outgoing chief of staff.

The three opposition parties - the Grand National Party, the United Liberal Democrats and Democratic People's Party - called the shake-up "incomprehensible." But a ruling-party spokesman, Lee Nak-yon, said, "A technocratic cabinet has been formed for a successful winding up of the administration."

by Chung Young-gi