Army general named new presidential secretary for defense

President Lee Myung-bak appointed an army general, currently assistant chief of staff of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, as his new defense secretary, the presidential office said Thursday.

Maj. Gen. Yoon Young-bum replaces Kim Byoung-gi, who was dismissed late last month amid public criticism over the government's handling of North Korea's deadly artillery attack on a South Korean border island in the Yellow Sea.

Yoon, 56, is also a senior member of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission, which monitors the implementation of the agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

He was commander of South Korean troops stationed in Iraq and commander of the 6th Army Division.