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2nd LD Writethru: New S.Korean president appoints PM, spy agency chief, presidential staff

Xinhua, May 10, 2017 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday appointed new prime minister, intelligence agency chief, presidential chief of staff and chief of the presidential security service.

Lee Nak-yon, an incumbent governor of South Jeolla province, was named as the first prime minister of the Moon government.

Lee, 65, is a former journalist who entered politics in 2000 and served as a four-term lawmaker.

He worked as spokesman for late liberal presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun. He was elected in 2014 as the provincial governor.

The prime minister nominee will be subject to the parliamentary hearing, requiring a parliamentary ratification to take office.

Im Jong-seok, 51, was named as presidential chief of staff. He is a two-term lawmaker who served as chief of staff for Moon's campaign team in the presidential race.

Im is a famous student activist in 1980s who visited a students' festival held in 1989 in Pyongyang, capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

For that visit, he was jailed for three and a half years. Under the national security law, it is illegal to visit the DPRK without advance permission from the government.

He entered politics in 2000 by joining the New Millennium Democratic Party, a predecessor of the current ruling Minjoo Party, and was elected as the youngest lawmaker in the year.

Im also worked for Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon as vice mayor on political affairs.

Suh Hoon, a former vice director of NIS (National Intelligence Service), was appointed as the spy agency's chief.

Suh, 63, managed official and unofficial contacts with the DPRK under the liberal presidents of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.

He led negotiations with the DPRK behind the scenes to hold two inter-Korean summit meetings in 2000 and 2007.

Joo Young-hoon, a career secretive service man, was named as chief of the presidential security service.

Joo, 61, entered the presidential security service as a guard in 1984, and had worked for the presidential secretive service since then. Endit