President-elect Park has selected her nominees for leadership positions at SIX ministries in her incoming government.

Seo Nam-soo , the president of Uiduk University, has been nominated as education minister, and Yun Byung-se , a former senior presidential secretary for foreign, security and unification policy and a current transition team official, has been named as foreign minister.

Ms. Park has also chosen Kim Byung-kwan, former deputy commander of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command as defense minister, and Hwang Kyo-ahn , former chief public prosecutor at the Busan High Public Prosecutors' Office, as justice minister.

Three-time Saenuri Party lawmaker Yoo Jeong-bok has been designated as minister of security and public administration, while former deputy culture minister Yoo Jin-ryong was nominated as culture minister.



Political pundits say the president-elect's nominees are mostly bureaucrats or professionals with years of real-world experience.

And experts say that with North Korea having conducted a third nuclear test, Ms. Park wanted to emphasize her commitment to national security issues by nominating security-related ministers first.

Wednesday's list of nominations only involves the ministries that will not be affected by a proposed bill to restructure the government, which has yet to be passed at the National Assembly.

The transition team called on the Assembly to pass the bill quickly so that they can complete the nomination process as soon as possible.



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"The bill, which includes plans to create new ministries for maritime affairs and future creative science, needs to be passed as soon as possible in order for the next government to launch its state affairs. We ask for support from both the ruling and opposition parties."

At this point, it seems that the nominees for the remaining 11 ministries will be announced after the government restructuring bill is passed, an event that is expected to happen either on Thursday or next Monday.

Meanwhile, the transition team also said it may take some time before they release the list of nominees for President-elect Park's chief of staff, which was originally expected on Wednesday.

Eoh Jin-joo, Arirang News.

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