The following is the third in a series of articles on the major tasks and key members of President-elect Park Geun-hye’s transition team. ―Ed.


Political reform was at center stage from the outset of last year’s presidential campaign focused on making the political arena and the government more transparent and accountable.

President-elect Park Geun-hye has promised to reduce the privileges and excessive powers of politicians and government bodies and fight the corruption of high-level officials and the president’s close aides and family members.

The task of taking over organizations considered to hold significant power within the government including the National Intelligence Service and Board of Audit and Inspection falls to the subcommittee on political affairs.

The subcommittee, led by Seoul National University professor Park Hyo-chong and supported by Chung-Ang University professor Jang Hoon, will also oversee matters concerning the presidential office, prime minister’s office, as well as organizations controlled directly by the president.

While the plans being discussed by the transition committee remain tightly under wraps, the president-elect is expected to downsize the presidential office.

At present, the office of the president includes two minister-level officials ― chief of staff and the chief of policy staff ― and nine senior secretaries that are vice-minister-level positions.

Of the nine senior secretaries, those in charge of civil affairs and foreign affairs are considered most likely to be abolished or merged with other offices.

The position of senior secretary for civil affairs is currently in charge of handling human resources management, and matters regarding members of the president’s family and close associates.

However, with Park having pledged to introduce the post of special auditor and an equal opportunity committee, the civil affairs secretariat will become redundant once Park takes office.

Under the plans, the special auditor will have investigative authority and will monitor corruption of the president’s family and close associates.

As for the functions of the office of the senior foreign affairs secretary, a new body tentatively known as the national security bureau is likely to take over.

The bureau, the plans for which are said to be under review by the transition committee, will be headed by a minister-level official and will oversee diplomatic, defense and unification issues.

The activities of the political affairs subcommittee, however, will not be limited to issues concerning these organizations.

According to transition committee spokesman Yoon Chang-jung, more than one subcommittee will be involved if required.

As such, the political affairs subcommittee is expected to become involved in matters regarding the prosecutors’ office and the National Police Agency, which will mainly be overseen by the law and social safety subcommittee.

In addition to the presidential office, that of the prime minister will likely see significant changes under the Park Geun-hye administration.

During her campaign, the president-elect pledged to increase the power exercised by the prime minister while reducing that of the president.

As part of the plans, Park pledges to guarantee the prime minister’s power to nominate cabinet members as stipulated in the constitution, and to bolster the prime minister’s role in drawing up and modifying policies.

However, the process of increasing the authority of the prime minister is likely to be a difficult one.

Not only were similar plans attempted under the Roh Moo-hyun administration to little effect, choosing her first prime minister will also be a difficult process which is likely to face resistance from the opposition parties.

While the political affairs subcommittee faces the difficult task of political reform, the choice of Park Hyo-chong as its chief has already raised questions for his conservative political stance.

While serving as a co-representative of the conservative group Textbook Forum in 2006, Park Hyo-chong made a controversial assessment of the 1961 coup led by the president-elect’s father Park Chung-hee.

In a textbook he wrote, Park Hyo-chong described the coup as a revolution, and commented in an interview that the event was “a coup in itself, but the changes brought on by it were revolutionary.”

By Choi He-suk (cheesuk@heraldcorp.com)