By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter

In an indication of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle, President Lee Myung-bak admitted Monday his failure in selecting some aides and Cabinet ministers.

``We neglected the people's expectations for ethical standards in selecting ministers and secretaries,'' Lee said in a luncheon meeting with Catholic leaders at Cheong Wa Dae.

The President made the remarks in response to Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk's request to listen more closely to the public, Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said.

It was the first time for the President, who took office in late February, to admit to an oversight in selecting key members of his administration.

Lee said the current political situation was caused by insufficient understanding of the public outrage triggered by the deal to resume imports of U.S. beef.

He said, ``I hope the new National Assembly will open its inaugural session as early as possible. If we conduct a Cabinet reshuffle, parliamentary hearings on minister-nominees should follow right away.''

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and other Cabinet ministers are likely to offer to resign en masse, probably after a Cabinet meeting today, sources said.

They added that Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun, Health and Welfare Minister Kim Soung-yee and Education Minister Kim Doh-yeon are likely to be sacked.

It remains to be been whether Prime Minister Han Seung-soo will be held responsible for the beef deal fiasco.

Some sources did not rule out the possibility that former GNP Chairwoman Park Geun-hye may be named prime minister. New nominees for the Cabinet and the presidential secretariat are also expected to come from the ranks of politicians.

Presidential chief of staff Yoo Woo-ik and all of the seven senior presidential secretaries tendered their resignations last Friday.

The President has not accepted or rejected the secretaries' resignations ― Cheong Wa Dae officials expect Lee to accept them on a selective basis.

Lee has seen his support plummet to 17 percent. Surveys showed that the hasty decision to resume imports of American beef was chiefly responsible for the record-low popularity.

He failed to calm down unfavorable public opinion about his government over the beef deal with the United States. Some of his remarks irritated the people more.

``I've found that U.S. officials were also full of discontent,'' Lee told a Cabinet meeting in late April. ``They told me that Korea was their toughest negotiation counterpart.''

Lee also described U.S. beef as high-quality and low-priced and called Korean beef the most expensive product in the world, adding it was up to consumers whether they ate U.S. beef or not.

Hours before the summit between Lee and U.S. President George W. Bush at Camp David, Korea decided to allow U.S. beef containing bone irrespective of cattle age into Korea.

kys@koreatimes.co.kr