President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team is considering establishing a top security control tower within the presidential office to replace the current structure divided into national defense and diplomacy.

“It will be inevitable to integrate the function but (the role of the senior secretary) will not be abolished and the name of the position may hence be kept,” Kim Jang-soo, former defense minister and representative of the foreign affairs and defense subcommittee, told reporters.

Subcommittee member Yun Byung-se further explained that the details are still being discussed but the team is assessing the realignment by gauging the pros and cons of the current system.

“We are comparing the cases from such other countries as the United States,” Yun told The Korea Herald.

He also told a press conference that their goal “is to set up a system that can be maintained regardless of future government changes.”

Currently, the senior secretary ― at a level of vice minister serving under the presidential chief-of-staff ― supervises the secretaries on foreign affairs, defense and unification. There is a separate national crisis management office, similar to the former National Security Council. The two offices may be integrated into the control tower, according to the sources.

Park, in stressing the need for strengthened efficiency, has pledged to set up the “national security office” inside the presidential office to cover security, diplomatic and unification matters as well as crisis management.

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