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S. Korean President Appoints First Woman Premier, Fires Defense Minister
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South
Korean President gives an appointment letter to the new Prime
Minister
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SEOUL,
July 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - South Korean President Kim
Dae-Jung Thursday, July 11, appointed a woman as prime minister and
sacked the defense minister in a reshuffle aimed at rallying his
weakened administration.
Chang
Sang, who is the first woman to be appointed as prime minister in
south Korea, replaced the outgoing prime minister, Lee Han-Dong. Chang
currently heads the Ehwa Women’s University, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) said.
President
Kim named Lee Jun, a former chairman of the defense ministry’s
reform committee, to replace Kim Dong-Shin who faced flak for a naval
skirmish with North Korea in which five South Korean soldiers were
killed.
Other
ministries affected by the reshuffle include justice, culture and
tourism, information and communication, health and welfare as well as
maritime affairs and fisheries.
According
to the AFP, the shake-up, which affected six out of 19 portfolios of
the cabinet and that of prime minister, came as Kim Dae-Jung was
seeking a way out of the current political quagmire.
Two
of his three sons have been arrested on graft charges and the naval
clash dealt a blow to his much-touted Sunshine Policy of
reconciliation with the communist North, which earned him the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2000.
“The
president has taken in reform-minded figures armed with expertise in
order to enhance stability and efficiency of the state administration
in line with people's wish,” his spokesman Park Jie-Won said.
“Defense
Minister Kim Dong-Shin had expressed the wish to hold himself
responsible for the Yellow Sea skirmish in order to avoid further
controversy that hurts the morale of the military,” he said.
The
opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and conservative news media
denounced the military for failing to go all the way and sink a North
Korean patrol boat in retreat after the boat opened fire on a South
Korean warship, AFP said.
Military
authorities said the navy had had to hold back to avoid escalation of
the incident.
The
reshuffle also came after both the ruling and opposition parties
called for a politically neutral cabinet to enhance fairness in the
December presidential poll.
Chang,
62, a career academic and educator with little experience in politics,
is considered to be a non-partisan figure.
“President
Kim appointed a woman as his prime minister as women’s roles in this
country will take on greater importance than ever in the 21st
century,” his spokesman Park said.
“The
president believes the new prime minister will lead the cabinet well
as she is not only a scholar and educator but also management-minded
as the head of a university,” he said.
But
the cabinet shake-up drew criticism from the opposition GNP, which
branded the prime minister nominee as “supine.”
It
raised issue with the returning of a one-time justice minister, Kim
Jung-Kil, to his old post and the retention of Lee Keun-Shik as
government administration minister.
The
GNP also noted with dissatisfaction that its demand for replacing the
spy agency head, Shin Kun, and top presidential aide Lim Dong-Won, who
helped create the Sunshine Policy, was “flatly ignored.”
The
GNP, which controls parliament, has yet to indicate whether it will
confirm Chang as prime minister. Should the National Assembly reject
her nomination, the president would have to suggest a new name.
Political
Science Professor Im Hyug-Baeg of Korea University said, however, the
GNP would find it hard to reject her appointment because of feared
backlash from women’s rights groups and her politically neutral
trait.
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