Park announces full lineup of transition team

President-elect Park Geun-hye yesterday completed her presidential transition team, recruiting academics and policy makers from her campaign to help her form the new administration.

Kim Yong-joon, head of the transition team, announced 23 members of the transition team yesterday including subcommittee heads. Park’s team is composed of nine subcommittees and two special committees.

Yoo Min-bong, public administrations professor of Sungkyunkwan University, will head a state affairs planning subcommittee, and Park Hyo-chong, a Seoul National University ethics professor, will head a political affairs subcommittee.

While Professor Park served on the president-elect’s campaign as an adviser on political reform, Yoo was seen as a fresh face because he reportedly had no special tie with Park in the past.

Kim Jang-soo, former defense minister in the Roh Moo-hyun administration, who worked as a security policy adviser in Park’s presidential campaign, was chosen to head a foreign, defense and unification affairs subcommittee.

Park created two subcommittees to focus on the economy and named two lawmakers to head them. Representative Yoo Sung-kull of the Saenuri Party will head the first subcommittee and Representative Lee Hyun-jae will head the second.

Representative Yoo is a first-term lawmaker who worked most of his career as a financial official. He served as deputy minister of strategy and finance from 2010 to 2012. Representative Lee shares a similar background. Until he was elected a lawmaker for the first time last April, he worked in the commerce and trade ministry for decades and served as the head of the Small and Medium Business Administration from 2006 to 2008.

Dong-A University law professor Lee Hye-jin will head a subcommittee on law and order and social security, while Kwak Byong-sun, former president of Kyung-in Women’s College, was named to head an education and science subcommittee. Choi Sung-jae, an honorary professor at Seoul National University, was named to head an employment and welfare subcommittee. Mo Cheol-min, president of the state-run Seoul Arts Center, will head a subcommittee on women and cultural affairs.

The law allows the president-elect to create a transition team with one chairman, one deputy chairman and up to 24 senior members. Park appointed Kim, 74-year-old former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, as the head of her team and Representative Chin Young, chief policy maker of the ruling Saenuri Party, as the deputy chair last month.

Han Gwang-ok, head of a special committee on national unity, was included as a transition team member.

Professor Ock Dong-suk at Incheon University and Saenuri Representative Kang Seog-hoon were named as transition team members to work on a state affairs planning subcommittee.

Jaung Hoon, a political science professor at Chung-Ang University, was named a member of a political affairs subcommittee.

Yun Byung-se, who served as the Roh Blue House’s senior secretary for foreign and national security affairs, was named a member of a foreign, defense and unification affairs subcommittee. Choi Dae-suk, a professor at Ewha Womans University specializing in North Korea studies, was also named to the committee.

Park Hung-seok, chairman of the Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was selected to serve on the first economy subcommittee, along with Chung-Ang University Professor Hong Ki-tack. Yonsei University Professor Suh Seung-hwan was selected to serve on the second economy subcommittee.

Lee Seung-jong, a public administration professor at Seoul National University, will serve on the subcommittee on law and order and social security. Chang Soon-heung, a professor at Kaist, was named to serve on the education and science subcommittee.

Saenuri Representative An Chong-bum and Ahn Sang-hoon, Seoul National University professor for welfare studies, will serve on the subcommittee on employment and welfare and Saenuri Representative Kim Hyun-sook will work on the women and cultural affairs subcommittee.

In addition to the chairman and deputy chairman of the transition committee, Park also appointed Yoon Chang-jung, a political columnist, as the committee’s spokesman. He will make up the 24th member of the transition team, in addition to the 23 people whose appointments were announced yesterday.

Kim Jin-sun, former Gangwon governor and chairman of the Organizing Committee for the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, was also appointed to manage Park’s presidential inauguration.

“The goal of this team is to create the draft of the new administration’s philosophy and policy platform to prepare for a smooth launch of the new government,” Kim Yong-joon said.

Park largely recruited policy makers from her campaign while leaving out her political allies. Of the 24 transition team members, 14 were from Park campaign’s committee on people’s happiness. The committee produced key economy, education and welfare pledges during the campaign.

The two professors in charge of the political affairs subcommittees also served in the Park campaign’s political reform special committee.

Park’s key political associates were, instead, given positions in her secretariat. The president-elect appointed Lee Jung-hyun, a senior leader of the Saenuri Party and her long-time loyalist, as the head of the political affairs team in her secretariat. Byun Choo-suk, dean of the college of design at Kookmin University, who was in charge of Park’s election campaign advertisements, posters and public affairs strategy, was named to head her secretariat’s public affairs team.

“Park also promised to listen to the leaders of the opposition parties during the transition process,” Park Sun-kyun, Park’s spokesman, said yesterday.

By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]