New Ministers Named in Cabinet Shakeup

President Roh Moo-hyun announced a cabinet shakeup in four ministries yesterday, appointing Lee Yong-sup, the senior secretary to the president for process and performance management as minister of government administration and home affairs, and former director Kim Myung-gon of the National Theater of Korea as minister of culture and tourism.

Information and telecommunications Vice-Minister Roh Jun-hyung was promoted to minister of that department, and administrator Kim Sung-jin of the Small and Medium Business Administration was appointed minister of fishery and maritime affairs.

The selection of a successor to Lee Jae-yong, the environment minister who announced his resignation to run for the local elections, was postponed after Roh finishes a visit to Africa (February 6-14). A new environment minister is also expected to be announced, along with the names of the successors to Governor Park Seung of the Bank of Korea (BOK) and Chairman Kang Chul-gyu of the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), whose terms will be over this month.

It is also likely that Cho Young-taek, the director of the prime minister’s Office for Government Policy Coordination (OPC) who is being asked by the ruling Uri Party to run for Gwangju mayor, will also be replaced.

“In this cabinet shakeup, innovative leaders were selected to fulfill a variety of national offices without delay in the fourth year of the Participatory Government. To avoid possible political misunderstandings, we refrained from appointing people in political circles,” said Kim Wan-gi, the presidential secretary for personnel affairs.

Yeon-Wook Jung jyw11@donga.com