Park names new chief state auditor and welfare minister

President Park Geun-hye on Friday named the head of a Seoul court as South Korea`s chief state auditor, a pension expert as the health and welfare minister and a university dean as second vice culture minister.

Hwang Chan-hyon, the chief of the Seoul Central District Court, was named head of the Board of Audit and Inspection. The president also named Moon Hyung-pyo, a senior researcher at the Korea Development Institute, to replace Chin Young as health and welfare minister. Kim So-young, a professor at Sookmyung Women`s University, was named as presidential secretary for culture and sports affairs.

The appointments are considered unconventional ones which broke old practices of previous administrations. A local court chief was named chief state auditor for the first time. Hwang came from Mansan, South Gyeongnam Provicne and served as various local courts. Moon, from Seoul, worked as a researcher of finances and welfare at the state-funded Korea Development Institute since 1989. He was the first researcher to be named welfare minister. Many of his predecessors were professors or senior government bureaucrats.