Pro-Park politicians take key posts
By Chung Min-uck
Gu Sang-chan
Gu Sang-chan, a former ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker and close confidant of President Park Geun-hye, will fill in as consul-general at the Korean Consulate General in Shanghai, a position that currently remains vacant, diplomatic sources said Friday.
The former lawmaker served as the public relations advisor when Park vied for the Saenuri Party’s presidential ticket ahead of the 2007 presidential election. The following year, Gu was elected a lawmaker of the ruling party.
Serving as a lawmaker, he was the chair of the parliamentary association of Korea-China cultural studies and a member of the foreign affairs committee. He also accompanied Park when she visited China as a special envoy for former President Lee Myung-bak in 2008.
The choice is in line with Park’s move to focus diplomacy on China, observers say.
She earlier tapped Kwon Young-se, also a former Saenuri lawmaker and a close confidant, as the ambassador to China. The three-term-lawmaker is a political heavyweight who played a key role in Park’s 2012 presidential election campaign as the chief general strategist.
Personnel close to Park have been appointed to key positions in foreign and unification affairs.
On Thursday, Park named a former five-term lawmaker to head a state advisory council on national unification.
Hyun Kyung-dae was designated to lead the National Unification Advisory Council as its senior vice chairman.
Hyun is considered one of seven elder political mentors believed to be offering advice to Park.
He served as a lawmaker from 1981 to 2004. He also worked for the unification advisory council as its secretary general in 1990.
Lee Byung-kee, an adviser to the ruling party’s think tank, was earlier named as the new ambassador to Japan. The former diplomat has long been considered a political mentor of Park
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also set to replace its top nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam, who has been in the position since 2011.
According to sources, Cho Tae-yong, Seoul’s ambassador to Australia, will replace Lim.
Cho is a career diplomat who served in several roles at the ministry, including deputy chief of the South Korean delegation to the six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea from 2004 to 2006, and chief of protocol.