The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a measure to add the presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon to the standing committee of the National Security Council, South Korea’s top decision-making body on security and foreign policy issues.

The move is aimed at making the chief presidential secretary more familiar with security and external issues as those matters are closely related to other issues, officials said. The measure will also improve the efficiency of the committee’s operations, they said.

The addition would increase the number of NSC’s standing committee members to eight.

The other seven are the national security adviser, his deputy, the ministers for foreign affairs, unification and national defense, the director of the National Intelligence Service and the senior presidential secretary for security and foreign affairs.

The committee, chaired by the national security adviser, usually meets once a week.

Critics, however, raised questions about the measure, saying the current chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, has no experience in handling security issues. (Yonhap)