The changes represent President Lee Myung-bak's efforts to recast his presidency following his Grand National Party (GNP)'s shocking defeat in the June 2 local elections. Lee also begins the second half of his single five-year tenure next month.
"The focus of this reorganization is to improve communication with the people, prepare for the future (of South Korea), and develop policy for low- and middle-income households and carry out it," Lee Dong-kwan, senior secretary for public affairs, told reporters. "It was concentrated on how efficiently (the Lee administration) will be able to manage state affairs in the latter half of the tenure."
With regard to the decision to appoint the senior secretary for social integration, he said, it is aimed to "listen to the voices of various sectors in society with open minds and reflect them in government policy."
The Lee administration faced fierce backlash from opposition parties, civic groups and religious circles on its key projects.
Critics say the GNP's election defeat was a public verdict against the construction of a business hub in the central province of Chungcheong instead of an originally planned administrative town, and another controversial project to refurbish the country's four major rivers.
Cheong Wa Dae appears to have considered such sentiment in deciding to ditch the post of the senior secretary for state affairs planning, who has handled those projects.
Cheong Wa Dae also said it would create an office for overseas public relations and reduce the number of its spokespersons to one. So far, one of the two spokespersons has dealt with foreign media.
The Lee administration has staged a "Global Korea" campaign for Seoul's bigger role in the international community. The country's overseas public relations activity has become more important since South Korea was chosen to host a G-20 summit in November of this year and a nuclear security summit in 2012.
"The function of the office of New Media Services will be bolstered to improve interaction with the tech-savvy younger generation, including those who use Twitter, the senior secretary said.
But the number of senior secretaries at the presidential office will remain unchanged at eight, while that of secretaries will increase from 43 to 45, he said.
Cheong Wa Dae did not immediately reveal the names of the newly-appointed officials as the president is still working to replace several senior presidential staff and reshuffle the Cabinet.
Chung Chung-kil, presidential chief of staff, offered to resign a day after the elections to take responsibility for the results. Yim Tae-hee, minister of employment and labor, is widely expected to replace Chung.
"New presidential chief of staff will be announced no later than early next week," he said. "The new line-up of Cheong Wa Dae staff will be determined through the presidential chief of staff's consultations with President Lee."
The fate of Prime Minister Chung Un-chan is also hanging in the balance. He was tasked with leading government efforts to get parliamentary approval for the revised Sejong City project to construct a business-education hub about 130 kilometers south of Seoul. After the National Assembly voted down the revision bill last week, Chung indicated he plans to resign.
A Cheong Wa Dae official said the removal of the post of the senior secretary for state affairs planning reflects the government's plan to place more emphasis on implementing existing projects rather than developing new ones.
The four-river restoration project would be handled by the office for regional development, he added.
[English News Team]
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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