President Park Geun-hye has appointed the chief of South Korea's state policy lender as the new governor of the country's financial watchdog, an official said Wednesday.

Presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook made the announcement, saying Park approved the appointment a day earlier.

The announcement came a day after South Korea's financial regulator picked Zhin Woong-seob, president of the Korea Finance Corp., as the new governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, the country's financial watchdog.

Zhin replaced Choi Soo-hyun, who has been under fire for mishandling the infighting in KB Financial Group Co., the country's second-largest banking giant, and a massive data leak from major credit card firms that rocked the nation earlier this year. (Yonhap)