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South Korea picks first female PM, replaces 6 ministers
( 2002-07-11 14:18 ) (7 )

Chang Sang, who was picked as South Korea's first female prime minister on July 11, 2002, is seen in this undated handout picture. Lee Jun, who was appointed as South Korea's new defense minister on July 11, 2002, is seen in this undated handout picture.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung picked the country's first female prime minister on Thursday and replaced six other ministers in a reshuffle seen as a bid to boost the government's image before December presidential polls.

The appointment of Prime Minister Chang Sang, a Princeton-educated former university dean, at the top of a list of largely non-politician technocrats was designed to restore faith in Kim's administration after a spate of scandals.

South Korea's 48 million people will elect a successor to the 77-year-old Kim on December 19. He is barred by the constitution from seeking a second five-year term.

The chief presidential secretary said Chang, a 62 year-old theologian from outside Kim's party, replaced veteran politician Lee Han-dong in the largely ceremonial prime minister's job.

The defense minister, criticized over last month's naval clash with North Korea, was also replaced in the reshuffle of the 18-member cabinet.

"This reshuffle chose reformist persons with expertise to raise the stability and efficiency of governance in accordance with the public's wishes," the chief presidential secretary, Park Jie-won, told reporters.

Both ruling and opposition parties and a vocal South Korean media had called for a non-partisan, technocratic cabinet ahead of both the presidential election and by-elections next month for 13 members of parliament that could give the opposition outright control of the National Assembly.

Seoul's financial markets ignored the cabinet overhaul, which left Kim's economic team unchanged. Ministers in charge of foreign policy and ties with North Korea also remained in place.

SCANDAL-FREE, NON-PARTISAN

The ruling party's presidential candidate had sought a line-up untainted by the graft scandals that have ensnared two of President Kim's three sons. The opposition party had sought a neutral administration to oversee the elections.

Lee Nae-young, a political scientist at Korea University in Seoul, said the choice of non-politicians probably also reflected a difficulty recruiting political heavyweights to join what is widely seen as a lame-duck administration.

"I would guess many people rejected cabinet offers, because the ruling party and administration is sort of a sinking ship and nobody wants to get on board," Lee said.

President Kim named as defense minister Lee Jun, 62, a retired army general, head of the ministry's reform committee and an official in the governing Millennium Democratic Party (MDP).

Lee's predecessor, Kim Dong-shin, came under fire for what the navy acknowledged was a tardy response to a June 29 naval attack by North Korea which killed four South Korean sailors and left one missing.

"There was a strong public demand for someone to take political responsibility," the academic Lee said.

Both the MDP and the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) had demanded the sacking of a senior official over the worst clash between the two Koreas in three years.

ONE-THIRD OF CABINET CHANGED

The Information and Communication portfolio was taken over by MDP party member and technocrat Lee Sang-chul. Lee, 54, is a former president of recently privatized KT Corp, the nation's largest fixed-line telco.

Kim Jung-kil was named as the new justice minister, Kim Sang-hyo was picked for Health and Welfare, Kim Sung-jae as Culture Minister and Kim Ho-shik as maritime affairs minister. All four came from outside the MDP party.

The cabinet changes comes just weeks before August 8 by-elections to fill 13 seats in the 273-seat legislature.

The conservative GNP now holds 130 seats, half of the 260 National Assembly seats currently occupied, and next month's by-elections could hand it control of the assembly. The GNP won a landslide in June polls for city mayors and provincial governors.

The GNP victories last month were seen as a show of antipathy to the governing MDP after the president's family scandals.

Two of the president's sons have been arrested and indicted on influence-peddling and tax evasion charges.