The new Cheong Wa Dae under President-elect Park Geun-hye aims to become smaller and more efficient with the staff’s roles realigned and integrated. But many of the new posts have the risk of overlapping in their roles, leaving a large proportion of the functions to be sorted out.

With the transition committee members unable to clarify the exact roles and reporting structure of some of the major positions as of yet, observers say it will be up to Park to comb through the details.

National security office

The most notable change to the incoming Cheong Wa Dae is the establishment of the national security office. While the security control tower had long been anticipated, the Monday announcement revealed that it would run separately from the senior secretary on foreign affairs and security. This was contrary to earlier speculation upon hints from the transition committee members that the role of the senior secretary would be integrated into the national security office.

Transition committee spokesman Yoon Chang-jung and chief of planning and coordination on state affairs Yoo Min-bong explained that the national security office would deal with the long-term agenda, while the senior secretary would continue to tackle pending affairs.

“It is a legitimate observation that the roles of the national security office chief and the senior secretary on foreign affairs and security would overlap,” said Paik Hak-soon, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute.

“We cannot but raise the substantial question as to how the ‘big picture’ and the ‘day-to-day’ affairs can actually be separated,” he said, adding that the incoming government should be ready to further explain how it will operate.

The transition committee so far has refused to elaborate. Asked who between the national security office chief and the foreign affairs and security senior secretary would be responsible for reporting to the president in times of crisis, they responded, “It is a matter of national security.”

As far as the announcement goes, the national security office will “set long-term strategies, conduct general analysis of information, collect various security-related information dispersed throughout the ministries and analyze it to take strategic mid- and long-term measures,” according to Yoo.

The senior secretary on foreign affairs and security, meanwhile, would continue to supervise the secretaries for foreign affairs, unification and defense, and “follow pending matters at each ministry and dig out issues that must be anticipatively dealt with,” Yoo said.

But it remains to be seen what the relations will be between the national security office and the senior secretary. According to the transition committee’s organizational chart of the presidential office, both the senior secretary and the national security office are under the chief of staff, but the office is a separate entity.

Observers said the ambiguity would need to be resolved quickly as the new government had a handful of imminent security-related tasks such as the negotiation with the U.S. on nuclear energy cooperation and the cost sharing for the upkeep of U.S. troops stationed here this year.

Planning vs. future strategy

The two new positions of senior secretary on planning and future strategy is an amalgamation of the current staff members working in various divisions to help President Lee Myung-bak operate his national policies such as the four-river project.

“Such direction (of discarding all the excessive positions) appears to be adequate,” said politics professor Yun Seong-yi of Kyung Hee University.

Yun explained that with the new format, the presidential office would be able to take on the coordinator role for each ministry in any of their overlapping functions.

“But there is room for doubt that their roles may overlap with each other when simply looking at their names,” Yun said, referring to the senior secretaries on planning and future strategy.

According to the transition team, the senior secretary on planning will take charge of working through the president’s state agenda, together with two secretaries on planning and state agenda under him.

The senior secretary for future strategy will be responsible for more specific tasks, by overseeing the work of three secretaries each in charge of: science and technology; information, broadcasting and communication; and climate and environment. The senior secretary is thus expected to work closely with the new Ministry on Future Creation and Science (tentatively named).

Regarding concerns that the two positions might end up working on the same issues, the transition committee sources were quoted as saying that the senior secretary on planning would be more responsible for imminent issues such as pension and free child care, as pledged by Park, while the senior secretary on future strategy would deal with longer-term matters.

Committee on personnel affairs

Another significant change is the committee on personnel affairs to be headed by the presidential chief of staff to guarantee “fair selection of figures appointed by the president.”

“It is the fundamental perception of the president-elect that a fair and objective system will be created and operated for when she executes her authority over personnel affairs,” Yoo said.

The transition team explained that it was also in line with Park’s election pledge to guarantee full personnel authority to the prime minister and the ministers for their affiliate organizations.

Refusing to specify who the committee members would be, the transition team indicated that relevant senior secretaries would be joining the committee when necessary.

But pundits questioned the validity of such a system that is widely considered a repeat of similar attempts by Park’s predecessors, arguing that all such bodies are ultimately controlled by the president.

“It is positive that (Park) aims to simplify the organization to efficiently operate it. But having the chief of staff chair the personnel affairs committee for a fair personnel system while refusing to disclose the formation is a source of concern that it may ultimately give the president absolute power,” said the main opposition Democratic United Party’s floor spokesman Lee Un-ju.

The Roh Moo-hyun administration had installed a position of senior secretary on personnel affairs, while the Lee administration operated the so-called “internal hearing” system participated in by senior secretaries.

Potential candidates

Following the announcement of the new Cheong Wa Dae, there is much speculation about who will be named to the two main posts of the chief of staff and the national security office chief.

Reports pointed to former lawmaker Kwon Young-se or former professor Choi Oe-chool as the likely candidates for presidential chief of staff that is likely to enjoy increased power in the new government.

Kwon had rallied at Park’s side during the election as the chief of the situation room. Choi, who headed research on the leadership of Park Chung-hee at Yeungnam University, is considered one of Park’s few entrusted aides.

Other likely figures are Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan and Yoo Jeong-bok, both loyal pro-Park members in the ruling Saenuri Party.

As for the post of the national security office chief, former defense minister Kim Jang-soo and former senior secretary on foreign affairs and security Yun Byung-se are dubbed potential candidates. Both have long been Park’s brain for security-related policies.

Other potential candidates include diplomat-turned-lawmaker Shim Yoon-joe, former New York consul general Kim Young-mok, former Army chief of staff Nam Jae-joon and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Han Min-koo.

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