President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday reshuffled some of her key senior secretaries and vice-ministerial officials.

Kim Jae-won, former lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party and one of the closest associates of the president, was named as new senior secretary for political affairs, replacing Hyun Ki-hwan, according to Cheong Wa Dae.

“With his ample experience in the parliament and presidential office, Kim is fit to play a bridging role between (Cheong Wa Dae) and the political circles,” said Kim Sung-woo, senior presidential secretary for public affairs in a briefing.

A former prosecutor and second-term lawmaker, Kim served as presidential secretary for political affairs last year. He also studied in China at a research institute as a special representative for the Korean government earlier this year.

The Blue House’s personnel announcement came abruptly, just three days after the president’s return from her recent 12-day trip to three African states and France.

Last month, following the resignation of presidential chief of staff Lee Byung-kee, Park named Lee Won-jong as the new chief of staff and former Saenuri lawmaker Rep. Kang Seog-hoon as senior secretary for economic affairs. Former economic chief An Chong-bum was relocated as senior secretary for policy coordination.

The overall reshuffle is taken as the president’s gesture for reform in the wake of the ruling party’s defeat in the April 13 general election, as well as a move to tighten control during the remaining period of her term, which is to end in February 2018.

But her choice of figures drew mixed reactions from the opposition camp. While the main opposition approved, runner-up minority parties blamed the president for favoring close aides and disregarding the public calls to eradicate factional divides.

“We expect that (new political senior secretary) Kim will respect the legislature and communicate smoothly with the opposition,” said Lee Jae-kyung, spokesperson of The Minjoo Party of Korea.

Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, co-chief of the People’s Party, expressed regrets over the president’s decision, claiming that it failed to reflect the public sentiment.

“As a key pro-Park member, Kim may be fit to understand the president’s statecraft but is not likely to play a bridging role (between the legislature and the president),” Rep. Son Kum-ju, chief spokesperson of the party, also said.

The more progressive Justice Party, too, argued that the point of the reshuffle was to “salvage” pro-Park members who dropped out of the party’s primary and thus failed to make it into the 20th National Assembly.

Besides the disputed senior secretary for political affairs, Hyun Dai-won, professor of journalism at Sogang University and front-runner in virtual reality industry, was appointed as senior secretary for future strategy, while Kim Yong-seung, vice president of the Catholic University of Korea as senior secretary for educational and cultural affairs.

The presidential office also appointed three new vice ministers.

Kim Hyung-suk, presidential secretary for unification, was named vice minister of the Unification Ministry.

Lee Joon-won, senior official in charge of food industry policy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, was promoted to the ministry’s vice-ministerial post.

As for the Environment Ministry, Lee Chung-seop, senior official in charge of environmental policy, was promoted to vice minister.

By Bae Hyun-jung(tellme@heraldcorp.com)