President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition committee comprised of members with wide-spanning backgrounds is expected to take shape next week after Christmas, party officials said Friday.

“(Details) will be announced after Christmas and before the end of the year,” Saenuri Party’s supreme council member Rep. Chung Woo-taik said on a local radio show. Chung, however, said that plans for the committee are not being openly devised.

The president-elect, who has yet to make any official comments regarding the matter, is said to be focusing on drawing up the plans for the committee, and for the country after inauguration.

Park and the party are reported to focus on a number of principles for forming the committee.

One of the principles is to establish the committee as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for the president-elect and her team to make preparations for the takeover. In addition, Park is said to have opted against establishing a large committee, and forming a relatively small one comprised of working-level experts instead.

The transition committee for late former President Roh Moo-hyun had 247 officials, while that formed for President Lee Myung-bak’s take over in 2008 had about 180 members.

Also, the “great fairness” Park has pledged to exercise in appointing officials as part of her efforts to achieve “great integration” for the country, is likely to be reflected in forming the transition committee.

As such, speculation is rising that the post of the committee’s chief will be filled by an individual with a moderate or progressive political stance rather than a member of the conservative Saenuri Party. Some observes speculate that someone from outside the political arena could be recruited for the task.

According to reports, former chief of the non-governmental organization People’s Solidarity for Participation Democracy Park Sang-jeung, Seoul National University professor Song Ho-geun and chief of Park’s political reform committee Ahn Dae-hee could be discussed as potential transition committee heads.

Along with the transition committee, those who will staff Park’s secretariat will also be selected in the coming days.

The post of Park’s chief secretary is currently empty following Rep. Lee Hag-jae’s resignation on Friday. Lee has also declared that he will not take any position appointed by the president during the Park administration, raising speculation that the pro-Park faction within the Saenuri Party will be taking a step back from the main fray.

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)