Veterans appointed to foreign, defense posts

ROK marines board a vessel at Incheon Port International Terminal, Wednesday, on their trip back to their base on Yeonpyeong Island, located near the tense Yellow Sea border with North Korea, amid lingering inter-Korean tensions following the North’s third nuclear test. / Yonhap

President-elect also names 4 other ministers

By Kim Tae-gyu

Yun Byung-se Foreign Minister nominee

Kim Byung-kwan Defense Minister nomine

President-elect Park Geun-hye Wednesday appointed two reliable hands — Yun Byung-se and Kim Byung-kwan — as her foreign and defense ministers, respectively. Four other ministers were also named apparently for their expertise.

Yun, 60, is a career diplomat who served as senior presidential secretary under the late President Roh Moo-hyun. He has assisted Park as an advisor on her transition team.

Kim, 65, was a four-star Army general who served as deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command.

Park tapped Uiduk University President Seo Nam-soo, 61, a career bureaucrat, and ex-veteran prosecutor Hwang Kyo-ahn, 56, as education and justice ministers, respectively.

Her close confidant Yoo Jeong-bok, 56, a three-term lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, will take the helm of the security and public administration ministry. Yoo Jin-ryong, dean of Hallyu Graduate School at the Catholic University of Korea, 57, will head the culture ministry.

But Park did not announce choices for the presidential secretariat including her chief of staff. Sources said that Park’s decision was affected by Pyongyang’s third nuclear test.

Park’s foreign and security lineup is almost completed, which observers say is important to deal with the ongoing nuclear crisis. Former Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo was named as head of the National Security Office to be created at Cheong Wa Dae.

Kim Jang-soo, Yun and Kim Byung-kwan are expected to play a significant role in forming and executing the foreign policies of Park including those toward North Korea.

Yun, who is known to have expertise in U.S. affairs, was generally expected to be nominated for the crucial post since he has worked as the foreign affairs brain for Park.

He masterminded her foreign policies for the presidential campaign late last year, and was also picked as a member of the transition team.

In three decades as a career diplomat, he worked as presidential secretary for foreign and security affairs in the mid to late 2000s under then President Roh Moo-hyun.

With the advent of the incumbent administration in 2008, the graduate of Seoul National University worked as a guest professor at Sogang University, Park’s alma mater.

Defense Minister nominee Kim served in the military for around 40 years after he graduated from the Korea Military Academy in 1972. He is regarded as the country’s representative strategist who is versed in both theory and practice.

The lifetime solider did not join Park’s election camp but late last year made public his support for the daughter of general-turned-authoritarian leader Park Chung-hee.

The designations are subject to National Assembly confirmation hearings, which are expected to start soon but it remains to be seen whether the vetting process will be finished before Park’s inauguration.

Park also has yet to appoint other Cabinet members such as the unification minister, who has to assume crucial tasks in North Korea policy.

Against this backdrop, concerns are rising that the new government might begin with members of the departing Cabinet staying in place.