[Courtesy of the presidential Blue House.]
South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday carried out a partial cabinet shakeup affecting three ministerial posts as her administration gears up for the year of a presidential election.
Cho Yoon-sun, a lawyer who served as minister of gender equality and family from 2013 to 2014 before acting as a senior presidential secretary,
was appointed as minister of culture, sports and tourism. She has been seen as one of Park's confidants.
Kim Jae-soo, a bureaucrat who joined the agriculture ministry in 1977 and now heads the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries and Food Trade Corp., became minister of agriculture, food and rural affairs.
Cho Kyeung-kyu, a deputy chief at the prime minister's office, was promoted to lead the environment ministry. Previously he had worked in the finance ministry for decades.
The change comes as Park's conservative Saenuri Party has failed to field any strong candidate for the presidential election in December 2017 since the party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections in April.
The parliamentary election, seen as a test of gauging public sentiment ahead of the presidential race in December 2017, saw Saenuri falling to the second largest group in parliament.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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