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Staff reporter
Cheong Wa Dae has created the post of senior secretary for social integration and abolished the office of senior secretary for state policy planning, as part of its reorganization, a senior presidential aide announced Wednesday.
It also set up the position of secretary for overseas public relations to deal more efficiently with foreign media and the Office of Future Strategy Planning to promote the development of science and information technology and prepare for the era of "green growth."
The reorganization represents President Lee Myung-bak's resolve to strengthen communication with the public and better cope with challenging national and global issues for the remaining half of his tenure, his aide said.
The changes came about one month after the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) suffered a humiliating defeat in local elections, which had been widely seen as a mid-term referendum on the President's leadership. Lee enters into the second half of his single five-year term next month.
The conservative party is seeking a turnaround in the upcoming July 28 by-elections, in which eight National Assembly seats are up for grabs.
Lee Dong-kwan, senior presidential secretary for public relations, said the President will announce a new lineup of his secretaries as early as next week right after he picks a new chief of staff.
Chung Chung-kil, the current chief, offered to resign a day after the GNP lost in the local elections on June 2. Yim Tae-hee, minister of employment and labor, is widely rumored to be his successor.
With regard to the decision to create the post of senior secretary for social integration, secretary Lee told reporters that it was aimed to communicate with a wider spectrum of social and religious groups.
"The secretary will listen to the voices of various sectors in society with an open mind and will seek to reflect them in government policy."
Critics say the result of the local elections was a public verdict on the government's move to transform an administrative town being built in South Chungcheong Province into a business hub heavily invested in by chaebol, and another controversial project to refurbish the country's four major rivers.
Cheong Wa Dae abolished the post of senior secretary for state policy planning, which handled those projects, in consideration of this sentiment.
