The presidential transition team has reportedly narrowed down its list of prime minister nominees to just a few names.
The prime minister is expected to serve a bigger role under the Park Geun-hye administration, as the president-elect has pledged to re-balance power between the nation's two powerful offices.With the revived position of deputy prime minister looking after the country's economic affairs, the prime minister's role is expected to focus mainly on state affairs.
Some of the key qualities that the transition team will be looking for are honesty, his or her skills at minimizing conflict, and the ability to control the cabinet.
Also, the nominee is widely expected to be someone who is not from Gyeongsang Province, the eastern side of the country known as the traditional stronghold of conservatives.This, to remain in line with President-elect Park's pledge to achieve a "grand social integration."
These speculations are backed up by comments made last week by chief of the transition team, Kim Yong-joon, who said that the pick would be an "integration-focused appointment."
What will happen after President-elect Park selects her prime minister? The nominee will go through a confirmation hearing by the National Assembly and once approved by lawmakers, he or she will make recommendations for members of the Cabinet.The president-elect will review the names and make the final decisions.

{Hwang Sung-hee}
"The speculation is that Korea's next prime minister will be named sometime before the end of next week with a confirmation hearing expected to take place on February 5th.This will be followed by hearings on the candidates for Cabinet posts, a process that's expected to be completed by February 20th, five days before the president-elect's inauguration."
Hwang Sung-hee, Arirang News.

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