Lee to overhaul presidential office this week

By Kim Young-jin, Lee Tae-hoon

Staff reporters

Restructuring of the presidential office may come as early as this week and a reshuffle of personnel will follow, a senior Cheong Wa Dae official said Sunday.

"Cheong Wa Dae, which is aiming to complete its restructuring by this week, is now fine tuning details," the official said, asking for anonymity.

As for the timing of the shake-up of senior presidential secretaries and Cabinet ministers, he said it will take a little more time and will likely be announced several days before it takes place.

During a radio address last month, President Lee Myung-bak said the operations of Cheong Wa Dae and the Cabinet will be revamped to improve efficiency with matching personnel changes.

Lee said he would consider a "new lineup" as he reviews policy priorities for the second half of his term.

Any new presidential aides are widely expected to be younger people in their late 40s and early 50s, but some insiders claim that age will not be a crucial factor.

Last Wednesday, Prime Minister Chung Un-chan also hinted at stepping down over the failure to have the National Assembly pass a revised bill on the Sejong City development project.

"As the architect of the revised plan for Sejong, I will take full responsibility for the failure to win parliamentary endorsement," he said in a televised press conference.

Chung had spearheaded the drive to overhaul the original plan to build an administrative town in South Chungcheong Province since his inauguration in September last year.

Meanwhile, President Lee returned home Saturday after a week of summit talks in Canada, Panama and Mexico, and is now preparing to tackle a slate of tough domestic issues including a possible shake-up of his top brass.

Back at home, Lee faces a bumpy political road after his Grand National Party's defeat in last month's local elections.

The National Assembly last week voted down Lee's controversial plan to create a business hub in Sejong City, Chungcheong Province, instead of the originally planned administrative town.

Prime Minister Chung, the architect of the revision, may offer his resignation to Lee over the bill's failure to pass through the legislature, sources said.

While Chung's future is unclear, Lee is expected to replace some of his key presidential aides and shake up his Cabinet.

President Lee's accomplishments during the trip included a deal with U.S. President Barack Obama to delay the transfer of wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korea's troops by more than three years.

Under the agreement, which was struck on June 26 on the sidelines of the G-20 economic summit in Toronto, OPCON will be returned to Seoul by Dec. 1, 2015, buying time for the allies to better prepare for the transition amid high tension on the Korean Peninsula.

Obama also pledged to resolve remaining issues in the Korea-US free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) and submit it to Congress by early next year for ratification.

The pact, signed in 2007, has remained shelved due to congressional opposition from Obama's Democratic Party over imbalances in auto trade and restrictions on U.S. beef.

If ratified, the FTA is expected to bump up annual bilateral trade by $20 billion.

In Toronto, Lee fulfilled his duties as host of the next G-20 summit, announcing that establishing global financial safety nets and developing poor nations will be on the agenda when the gathering meets in Seoul.

During his three days in Panama, Lee held a summit with the leaders of the Central America Integration System (SICA), an eight-member economic bloc, agreeing to bolster economic cooperation between the two sides.

Lee also pledged to share Korea's developmental experience and expand technology transfer with SICA countries: Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and the Dominican Republic.

In Mexico, Lee and counterpart Felipe Calderon agreed Thursday to work for an early resumption of FTA talks. Negotiations ground to a halt in 2008 due to backlash from Mexican industries.

The leaders did not establish a timeline for resumption of negotiations. In the meantime, Lee won South Korean companies the chance to participate in public infrastructure projects in Mexico a right normally reserved for FTA partners.