Policies on national defense and smaller businesses are first on the agenda to be tackled by President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team as it begins receiving policy briefings from the ministries this Friday.

“The (briefing schedule) was arranged so that the new government could clearly present to the people its state philosophy and purpose,” transition team spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said at a press briefing at the committee office in Samcheong-dong, downtown Seoul.

The session will last through the weekend for a week, he said. The process will be divided into two groups of business-related and non-business areas, with the first in line being the Defense Ministry and the Small and Medium Business Administration.

The timetable will be tight with the subcommittees hearing two to four ministries a day, and the number of participants will be kept at a minimum, Yoon said.

Each report will comprise the relevant ministries’ general status, evaluations of ongoing policies, pending issues to be handed over, detailed plans for implementing the president-elect’s pledges and their plans for reducing the budget, Yoon explained. The ministries are also required to report on how to “rationalize” the operation of affiliate organizations and resolve any unfair practices.

A total of 53 government officials including two National Intelligence Service members will be dispatched to the transition team, Yoon said.

With Park emphasizing appropriate diagnosis of problems rather than presenting new promises, the government was urged to “see things from the people’s standpoint” in reporting what should be discarded and what should be reinforced.

Some of the controversial projects undertaken by the incumbent administration include the four-river restoration project objected by environmentalists, and conglomerate and export-oriented economic policies.

Park has consistently underscored her priorities on maintaining national security and helping small and medium-sized businesses.

Tension on the Korean Peninsula escalated ahead of the Dec. 19 election upon North Korea’s long-range rocket launch on Dec. 12. The provocation added to Seoul’s already heavy list of diplomatic challenges including the strained relations with Japan over the Dokdo islets.

As part of her economic democracy vision, Park has also placed importance on small businesses by visiting the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business on Dec. 26 as first official visit as president-elect, differentiating herself from her chaebol-friendly predecessor. During the visit, Park had vowed to pivot the economic policy around small and mid-sized businesses.

During the first plenary session presided by Park on Monday, the president-elect said, “It is extremely important to revive small and mid-sized businesses. What the federation officials keep telling us is that they would like is to remove the thorn stuck under their nails.“

Park’s secretariat of some 25 aides, meanwhile, started their work Tuesday.

The politics team of the secretariat headed by her long-time spokesman Lee Jung-hyun are to be in charge of verifying candidates for prime minister, the Cabinet and the presidential office using data provided by Cheong Wa Dae, the NIS, the prosecution and the police.

Lee Jae-man and Jeong Ho-seong, Park’s aides of 15 years, also joined the secretariat to continue taking charge of reviewing her political affairs, messages and policies.

Park’s public relations will be led by the same team that had helped her presidential campaign including Byun Choo-suk of Kookmin University’s College of Design.

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