With only about a week to go until her inauguration next Monday,.. the incoming president Park Geun-hye announced 11 additional minister nominees on Sunday.
This followed last week's nominations of six ministers, including defense, foreign, and culture ministers, and with Sunday's nominations,.. all 17 candidates for her restructured government have been announced.
Hyun Oh-seok, current head of the state think-tank Korea Development Institute, was nominated as finance minister and deputy prime minister for economy.
Kim Jeong-hoon, a successful IT expert and businessman,.. was named as minister of Future Creative Science Ministry which will be large both in size and significance,.. as it will be in charge of identifying new growth engines for the country.
North Korean expert Ryoo Kihl-jae was tapped as the unification minister.
Chin Young, three-term lawmaker and Vice Chairman of Park's transition team was appointed as welfare minister,.. and Cho Yoon-sun, lawmaker and spokesperson of President-elect Park Geun-hye was named for the next gender equality minister.
Agriculture expert Lee Dong-phil was named as agriculture minister,.. and current Vice Minister for Industry and Technology Yoon Sang-jic will become commerce minister.
Yoon Seong-kyu, who served at the environment ministry for about 20 years,.. was named as environment minister,.. and Phang Ha-nam as Labor Minister.
Suh Seoung-hwan was appointed as land minister, and maritime expert Yoon Jin-sook,.. as maritime affairs minister.
The announcement came as a slight surprise, as most analysts expected only ministries that will not be affected by Park's proposed bill to restructure the government to be announced.
The National Assembly has yet to pass the bill.


"The National Assembly should pass the government restructuring bill as soon as possible, so that the incoming administration can take over state affairs smoothly. As the delayed passage of the bill could cause anxiety among citizens and create a sense of insecurity within the government,.. we inevitably decided to announce all nominations for the new government."

However,.. the ruling and the opposition parties are still poles apart in terms of their negotiations over what form the government structuring bill will take.
The two parties held negotiations over the bill on Sunday evening,.. however the meeting reportedly fell apart.
Park Ji-won, Airrang News.

Reporter : jiwonpark@arirang.co.kr