Lee names KOTRA head as economy minister

Former police chief to head Presidential Security Service


President Lee Myung-bak on Thursday named the president of a state-funded trade promotion agency as the new knowledge economy minister and a former police chief as head of the presidential security service.

Hong Suk-woo, who took the helm of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in June, was tapped to lead the Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Lee’s spokesman Park Jeong-ha said.

Hong will succeed Choi Joong-kyung who offered to resign last month over nationwide power outages.

The appointment of Hong is subject to a parliamentary confirmation hearing, although it does not require a National Assembly approval. The presidential office plans to send a request for the confirmation hearing to the parliament as early as Monday, Park said.

Lee also nominated Eo Cheong-soo, former chief of the National Police Agency, as head of the presidential security service to succeed Kim In-jong. Kim submitted his resignation following allegations of irregularities in a project to build a retirement residence for Lee.

Eo, who had stepped down as commissioner general of the National Police Agency in early 2009, months after massive protests against U.S. beef imports, was appointed as chief director of the Korea National Park Service in August.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)