Presidential-elect Park Geun-hye on Monday named Rep. Yoo Il-ho as her chief secretary and rightist columnist Yoon Chang-jung as her chief spokesperson in her first appointments for her transition team that will help shape the government next year.

The surprise announcement of the two figures who were not among those mentioned as potential candidates was seen to underscore Park’s resolve to emphasize diversity in drawing up her Cabinet next year.

She also chose Park Sun-kyu and Cho Yoon-sun to continue their role as her spokespersons.

Yoo, a second-term lawmaker and head of the Saenuri Party’s Seoul chapter, is an economist and has served as the professor at the Korea Development Institute.

Yoon, a veteran print journalist, has received wide spotlight during the presidential election with his sharp-tongued criticism against the opposition bloc.

Park has been taking time to name her transition team members, carefully reviewing figures that could represent unity and moderation.

Park over the weekend stayed in her residence in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, and reviewed her choices for the posts of her transition team including her chief secretary. The full transition committee line-up is expected to be completed later this week.

As the party members remained mum about Park’s possible selection, the leadership on Monday called for a comprehensive and fair lineup for a successful new administration.

“What can be a bigger political purpose than uniting the people as one? The most important key to uniting the people is to make a fair personnel decision,” Saenuri Party chairman Hwang Woo-yea said at a Supreme Council meeting on Monday.

“(The new government) should prepare policies to harmoniously develop our land to enable balanced development of each region economically and socioculturally.”

The transition team is likely to be compact with around 100 officials participating including some 25 division heads, which is about half the size of previous presidential transition committees.

Park’s personnel decision-making style is well-known to be principled, unexpected and reticent.

The president-elect reportedly avoids leaking her list of choices in advance ― a strategy often exploited to gauge the reaction.

Sources and news reports have suggested that an internal figure from the party that is well-versed with her state philosophy and policies is likely to head the transition team.

Names mentioned as the likely transition team leader are Kim Chong-in, who chaired her election policymaking headquarters, and Kim Gwang-doo, her long-time entrusted aide.

Some also suggest that it could be an external figure to represent her slogan of unity ― possibly by coming from Jeolla Province, a politically adversarial region by tradition ― with a moderate image.

Among the potential names are former deputy prime minister Jin Nyum and former finance minister Kang Bong-kyun, who is from Jeolla Province and was a member of the opposition party.

The party’s chief policymaker Rep. Chin Young, who quietly helped manage her campaign, is also being dubbed a potential vice-chairman for the transition committee.

Meanwhile, observers said Park’s final choices could be “outside-the-box,” considering her past record of making unexpected designations.

The most unexpected designations included the appointment of Kim Chong-in and Lee Sang-don for the key posts in the emergency committee last year while the party was going through a crisis and reform.

Kim has been a reform-oriented avid advocate of economic democratization, while Lee, a professor of Chung-Ang University, has been openly critical of President Lee over his four major rivers restoration project.

Her choice of a sharp-tongued 26-year-old political rookie Lee Jun-seok to join the emergency committee also threw the conservative party for a loop.

Park is considered unconventional in that she does not prefer professors for her pool of experts, instead turning her eyes to expert-turned lawmakers, former bureaucrats or businessmen, party sources said.

Her taciturn decision-making style is also deemed to be her asset as well as liability as while her reticence prevents hearsay and premature power struggle, it can also be perceived as uncommunicative with the responsibility of her choices solely on her.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)