Pres.-elect Park names chairman, members of transition team

President-elect Park Geun-hye named the chairman and other key members of her transition committee on Thursday as her first step in taking over the government and set major agenda for the next five years. She plans to complete appointments for the committee before the end of the year.

The committee will likely be launched about a week later than that of her predecessor. On Dec. 25, 2007, then President-elect Lee Myung-bak named his transition committee`s members and their assistants before giving them letters of appointment and holding a meeting with them the following day.

The most important assignments for Park`s committee in January and February next year are devising a roadmap for major policy agenda items and appointing members of the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae and her first Cabinet.

Once the committee is launched, each government ministry and agency will brief it on the policies implemented by the incumbent administration and coordinate them with Park`s election pledges. After the briefings, each department of the transition team will select key policy agenda for the new administration.

Set for conclusion by mid-January is a plan to reorganize the government before announcing the new Cabinet lineup. In February, the committee will select and prioritize major policy goals and projects before announcing blueprints for them.

A president-elect usually names his or her prime minister and chief of staff in late January before appointing the Cabinet and senior presidential secretaries in early or mid-February. The transition committee will complete its mission by preparing the inauguration ceremony for the new president slated for Feb. 25 and publish a white paper on its activities.

Under a law on government transition, committee members are "honorary office holders" who do not earn salaries but have their expenses paid for by the state.

Despite this, they command strong authority. The committee chairman can request that government ministries send officials to work for the team. With consent from the heads of relevant agencies, the committee can have experts and administrative officials transferred to it. The team can also request government agencies to provide documents, information and opinions if necessary.

ditto@donga.com