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South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday named her new chief of staff and her secretary on political affairs after the former senior policy adviser was placed under an emergency detention in a follow-up reshuffle amid rising public anger at a scandal surrounding Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime confidante suspected of having meddled in state affairs.
Park picked Han Gwang-ok, chairman of the Presidential Committee for National Cohesion, as her new chief of staff, while appointing Hur Won-je, a former journalist-turned-politician, as her senior secretary for political affairs. With the latest appointments, Park replaced three of her 10 senior secretaries, as well as her chief of staff.
Han Gwang-ok, 74, former four-term lawmaker who served as presidential chief of staff under the 1998-2002 Kim Dae-jung administration, was appointed as new presidential chief of staff, Park's office said.
Han joined Park's presidential election camp in 2012, helping her get elected as the country's first female president. Under the Parks government, he has served as the chairman of the Presidential Committee for National Cohesion.
Hur Won-je, a former journalist-turned-politician, was appointed as new senior presidential secretary on political affairs. He worked as vice chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, the nation's telecom watchdog, under the Park administration.
An Jong-beom, former senior policy adviser to South Korean President Park Geun-hye, was placed under an emergency detention on Wednesday evening on alleged charges of being involved in the fund-raising of two nonprofit foundations presumably controlled by Choi Soon-sil.
An has been suspected of pressuring conglomerates into donating tens of millions of U.S. dollars into Mir and K-Sports foundations in support of Choi, considered as a behind-the-scenes heavyweight by using her friendship with President Park.
Prosecutors were quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying An has denied his involvement in alleged wrongdoings and asking others concerned to make false statements in the prosecution.
Given that Choi Soon-sil has been placed under an emergency detention, An will highly likely seek to destroy evidence, the prosecutors' office was quoted as saying.
(APD)
