A three-term lawmaker and chair of the National Assembly's intelligence committee will be named the new top presidential secretary for political affairs, a Cheong Wa Dae source said Tuesday, as President Lee Myug-bak seeks to improve communication with political circles after his Grand National Party (GNP)'s election defeat last month.
Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office, recently offered the post to Rep. Chung Jin-suk, 50, of the GNP through an unofficial channel, the source said.
"Rep. Chung is the strongest candidate and Cheong Wa Dae is waiting for his decision," the source said. It is customary, albeit not legally binding, here for a lawmaker to give up his or her parliamentary seat to take up a government post.
"I need to wait a little bit more, as I have received just an indirect offer," Chung told Yonhap News Agency in a phone interview.
He indicated that he would accept the proposal if formally made, saying, "I think I should serve for public benefits at a time when the country is in trouble, although it has been only a month since I assumed the post of the head of the National Assembly's intelligence committee."
Born in Gongju, about 150 kilometers south of Seoul, in 1960, Chung worked as reporter for the Hankook Ilbo, a Seoul-based daily, from 1985 to 1999.