President Lee Myung-bak plans to soon appoint a new member of the Bank of Korea’s monetary policy committee that decides the nation’s key interest rate.

The appointment will fill a panel seat that has been left empty for nearly two years.

Under the law governing the central bank, the interest rate-setting panel is composed of seven members. But since April 2010, the committee has been led by six members, inviting criticism that the presidential office has been dragging its feet on filling the vacancy for political purposes.

To ensure independence in monetary policy, three members come from the BOK, including the governor and deputy governor, and the other four members from two financial authorities and two business and banking associations.

Despite the significant role of committee members, Cheong Wa Dae has not filled the vacant seat reserved for the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry after a member resigned in April 2010.

In tandem, BOK Governor Kim Choong-soo has been criticized for allegedly glossing over law concerning the committee being composed of seven individuals.

Kim had also failed to call for a speedy nomination of the panel member.

The chief central banker, on the contrary, has been defending the situation under which six of the panel members have set the monthly benchmark rate on 24 occasions from May 2010 to April 2012.

“There has been no big problem until now,” Kim had said, adding that it was inappropriate for him to comment in detail.

The BOK said Friday that four figures will take office as new members of the committee.

The four nominees are composed of one candidate for the two-year vacant seat and three others who will succeed three incumbent members whose four-year terms expire this month.

Konkuk University Prof. Chung Hae-bang was recommended by the Finance Ministry to the presidential office and Yonsei University Prof. Ha Sung-Keun by the Financial Services Commission.

The two other figures are former Hyundai Motor CEO Jung Soon-won, picked by the Korea Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and Seoul National University professor Moon Woo-shik by the BOK.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)