LEE MYUNG-BAK, president of South Korea, yesterday made his broadest cabinet reshuffle since coming to power in 2008 – but changed only minor posts, retaining the old guard who are spearheading his hardline policy towards the North.
The presidential office said the reshuffle was a response to the mid-term elections in June, when Mr Lee’s ruling conservative party was trounced. However, the president changed none of the ministers most criticised for the handling of the sinking of a South Korean warship in March, which swayed that election and brought the two Koreas the closest to war they had been for more than 20 years.
The ministers responsible for defence, foreign affairs, finance and relations with the North all kept their jobs. Mr Lee nominated Kim Tae-ho, a 47-year-old former provincial governor, for the largely procedural role of prime minister. He named new ministers for agriculture, health, labour, commerce, education, culture and the roving portfolio of “special affairs”.
Mr Lee’s loss in June’s provincial and gubernatorial elections was unexpected. The government has expressed dismay that many young people do not believe North Korea was responsible for killing 46 sailors in a submarine attack.
Yu Myung-hwan, the foreign minister, said last month that young people should go to live in North Korea “if they liked it that much”.
Mr Lee, praised internationally for his handling of the sinking, was accused at home of pushing nuclear-armed Pyongyang into a corner. The case remains confused, spawning widespread conspiracy theories involving the US.
Separately, a South Korean fishing vessel with seven people aboard is being held by North Korea, after sailing into the North’s exclusive economic waters off the east coast, South Korea’s coast guard has said.
Simmering tensions between the two Koreas have risen a notch in recent days with the staging of military drills by the South off the west coast, infuriating Pyongyang which threatened “physical retaliation” for the exercise.
The two sides are still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. China is North Korea’s only major ally and host of six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited, additional reporting Reuters)