Asia Times: Kim's reshuffle aims to restore equilibrium


	March 27, 2001	atimes.com

The Koreas

Kim's reshuffle aims to restore equilibrium

SEOUL - South Korean President Kim Dae-jung on Monday completed a major cabinet reshuffle that included 12 ministerial changes, and new Defense and Unification ministers in light of recent setbacks to his "sunshine" policy with North Korea.

The reshuffle, which swept out nearly the whole government security and foreign team, involved half his cabinet.

Shin Kuhn, the second vice director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was promoted to NIS director, replacing Lim Dong-won who became the Unification Minister. The president replaced Defense Minister Cho Sung-tae with Kim Dong-shin, a former Army chief of staff.

Presidential press secretary Park Joon-young commented, "NIS director Lim's transfer to the Unification Ministry is aimed at bringing North Korea policy into a more systematic orbit."

In the drastic reshuffle, Kim appointed Han Seung-soo, a former commerce minister and ex-ambassador to the United States, to the foreign affairs post. Han replaces Lee Joung-binn, who had come under fire for a series of policy fumbles relating to Kim's delicate rapprochement with North Korea and for disclosing what analysts said was confidential information relating to US missile defense plans on Friday.

In addition, Park Jie-Won, a scandal-tainted powerbroker, came back from the political wilderness to lead the new security and foreign team. Park, who organized the watershed inter-Korean summit last year, was named top policy advisor to the president with ministerial rank, one of the government's most influential posts.

He became a close confidant of Kim Dae-Jung in the early 1980s when the former dissident was in self-imposed exile in the United States. Park, 59, has been a political powerbroker since Kim took office in early 1998. He made secret trips to Pyongyang to arrange last year's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. But he resigned as culture minister in September last year following corruption accusations that dealt a blow to the clean image of the Kim administration. Park's comeback underlined Kim's will to strengthen his cherished "sunshine" of reconciliation with North Korea.

Park will take the lead role in formulating policy, along with Lim Dong-Won, another architect of the Pyongyang summit and ensuing rapprochement with the North.

Reconciliation between the two Koreas has been losing steam in recent weeks and the North withdrew suddenly from ministerial talks with South Korea two weeks ago. And at a summit earlier this month with Kim Dae-Jung, US President George W Bush expressed skepticism about the North, sparking anger from Pyongyang. Bush's decision to suspend talks with the North on missile proliferation has made Kim's job more difficult.

Kim's priority on improving relations with North Korea and the US was also reflected in the appointment of ex-army chief-of-staff Kim Dong-Shin as new Defense Minister and Han Seung-Soo as new Foreign Minister. The new defense minister is an expert in military operations and military diplomacy. He is known to maintain friendship with senior military officials in the Bush administration. Han, who served as South Korea's ambassador to Washington in 1993, is reportedly on good terms with Bush's foreign and trade team.

Despite the recent setbacks, a shake-up has been anticipated for some time after Kim, whose popularity has plunged in recent opinion polls, expressed disappointment with the performance of some of his cabinet members.

Kim kept Prime Minister Lee Han-dong, whose job is largely ceremonial. He replaced most of his economic ministers, but the government's economic reform program was expected to remain in place. Critics have accused the government of not implementing reforms fast enough. Kim also tapped Lee Tae-bok, chief of a labor newspaper, as senior presidential secretary for social development.

Considering the United Liberal Democrats (ULD)'s role in the ruling coalition government, Kim allotted three ULD representatives to ministers' posts; Chang Che-shik to the Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister, Chung Woo-taek to the Maritime and Fisheries Minister and Oh Jang-seop to Construction and Transportation Minister.

Former vice minister of Government Administration Lee Keun-sik was appointed head of the Government Administration and Home Affairs Ministry, and the president of the Graduate School of Information Technology and Telecommunication Yang Seung-taek was named Information and Communication Minister.

Ruling Millennium Democratic Party member Kim Deok-bae was posted in the minister-level post of chairman of the Presidential Commission on Small and Medium Enterprises, and Central Officials Training Institute head Na Seung-po was named minister for the Office for Government Policy Coordination under the Prime Minister's Office.

Presidential spokesman Park Joon-young, in a press briefing, said, "Kim considered personal abilities, and the individual's support for reform and public perceptions during the selection process. The president also aimed for a fair distribution among generations and regional backgrounds in conducting the major reshuffle." Park also stressed the partnership between the MDP and ULD was strongly reflected in the reshuffle.

Financial markets took the overhaul in stride. The US dollar closed higher against the won on Monday after it rising to the mid-1,310 won level on the yen's sharp depreciation against the dollar. After opening at 1,307.50 won, the dollar continued to rise against the local currency on the yen's weakness and the Singapore dollar's plunge to a 38-month low versus the greenback.

The dollar spurted into an intraday high of 1,315.40 won as it advanced to 123.80 yen per dollar in overseas markets. But the yen's recovery to 123 yen per dollar and a rise in Korean stocks hampered the dollar's appreciation against the won. The greenback closed at 1,310.50 won, still that left it up from 1,307.10 won at Friday's close.

The Korea Stock Exchange picked up on Monday, boosted by foreign investors and Friday's rise on the Nasdaq. The Korea Composite Stock Price Index closed the day at 544.75, up 8.01 points, recovering back to the 540-point level after seven days. Foreign investors concentrated on acquiring blue chip Samsung Electronics and bought 62.5 billion won more than they sold.

(Asia Times Online/Asia Pulse)

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