Park names private counsel chief of staff

New presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon, left, walks down the corridor along with four other newly-appointed senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Monday. Clockwise from Kim are senior secretary for civil affairs Hong Kyung-shik; senior secretary for employment and welfare affairs Choi Won-young; senior secretary for future strategy Yoon Chang-bun; and senior secretary for political affairs Park Joon-woo. / Yonhap

Kim served as her father's legal aide; 4 assistants appointed

By Kim Tae-gyu

President Park Geun-hye conducted a surprise reshuffle of her staff, Monday, highlighted by the appointment of her confidant and three-term lawmaker Kim Ki-choon as chief of staff.

Park also named career diplomat Park Joon-woo as secretary for political affairs; former prosecutor Hong Kyung-shik for civil affairs; former Hanaro Telecom (now SK Broadband) CEO Yoon Chang-bun for future strategy; and lifetime bureaucrat Choi Won-young for employment and welfare affairs.

The reshuffle came on the first day Park returned from vacation.

The new chief of staff, who replaced Huh Tae-yeol, was widely regarded as having been mothballed after a long and controversial career. He started as a prosecutor, and was promoted to prosecutor-general before becoming justice minister in the early 1990s.

Kim is one of the President’s seven-member private advisory committee.

Park’s top press secretary Lee Jung-hyun said, “For a more proactive policy drive and a fresh start, Cheong Wa Dae decided to conduct the personnel reshuffle.” Lee moved to his current job from the post of political secretary, which had remained vacant until the new appointments.

Although Lee failed to admit it, experts point out that the unexpected reshuffle is tantamount to punitive action against former Chief of Staff Huh and other outgoing senior aides.

Huh, who took charge of the committee that decided candidates for significant government positions, came under fire for the appointment debacle as many of them withdrew amid suspicions of illegal activities or ethical lapses in judgment.

The criticism culminated in May when former spokesman Yoon Chang-jung was dismissed after allegedly groping an embassy intern during Park’s first overseas visit to the United States.

Along the same line, former Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kwak Sang-do was also censured because he was in charge of screening procedures.

As a prosecutor, Kim questioned Moon Se-kwang, a pro-North Korean assassin of Park’s mother Yuk Young-soo in 1974. He also worked for Park’s father, Park Chung-hee, as his legal secretary in 1979.

The native of Geojae, South Gyeongsang Province, was a beneficiary of the scholarship foundation founded by Park’s parents, and a member of the seven-person advisory panel, which played a pivotal role in her winning last year’s presidential election.

Kim faced a crisis in 1992 as justice minister when the opposition party claimed that he convened a meeting of regional leaders at a Busan restaurant to help the then governing party candidate, former President Kim Young-sam, win the election.

The reshuffle also reaffirmed President Park’s personnel management style of favoring bureaucrats, prosecutors, and soldiers.

Kim and Hong started their career as prosecutors while Park and Choi were career public servants. Yoon worked for a subsidiary of the information-communication ministry.

Among the five new appointees, Choi graduated from Kyungpook National University, while the others attended Seoul National University.