[Editorial] Surprise reshuffle

President Park Geun-hye’s reshuffle of her secretariat, which was announced Monday, was surprising in terms of both scale and timing.

Upon returning from her brief summer vacation, she replaced half of her 10 senior secretaries, including the chief of staff. Few expected such a sweeping reshuffle from a president who was inaugurated less than six months ago.

Announcing the surprise shake-up, presidential press secretary Lee Jung-hyun said it was intended to “implement policies more aggressively and make a new start in the second half of the year.”

Lee stopped short of stating the real reason ― Park’s appointment failures. Had there been no misguided appointments, an early reshuffle would not have been necessary in the first place.

Park’s inept personnel selection is probably not limited to the presidential secretariat. The present Cabinet lineup is also likely to include some ineffectual ministers.

But Lee ruled out any Cabinet reshuffle for now. Given the gauntlet of parliamentary scrutiny on ministerial nominees, overhauling the Cabinet is not as easy as realigning the presidential secretariat.

Park did not come forward to acknowledge her misjudgment. Instead she replaced her chief of staff and the senior secretary for civil affairs.

Under the current system, the chief of staff heads the committee for assessing and recommending the candidates for presidential appointments, with the senior civil affairs secretary supposed to play a central role in it.

Yet the committee has failed to fulfill its role. In launching her inaugural Cabinet, Park had suffered a long series of setbacks. Many of her ministerial nominees were forced to resign due to personal problems. Had the committee vetted nominees properly, Park could have avoided some, if not all, of the setbacks.

It remains to be seen how the newly appointed chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, will assist Park in making appointments. A former prosecutor general, justice minister and three-term lawmaker, Kim, 74, has a reputation for being meticulous and well organized.

One thing is certain. Kim will have a bigger say than his predecessor in Park’s personnel decisions and other affairs. As a key member of Park’s advisory group consisting of seven elders, he has long offered political advice to her.

But the new chief of staff is unlikely to be of much help to Park in improving relations with the main opposition Democratic Party, as he is known to be on the far right of the political spectrum.

To activate dialogue with the opposition party, Park has filled the post of senior secretary for political affairs, which has been left vacant for more than two months.

But curiously, the man she has picked for the post, Park Joon-woo, is a career diplomat with little political experience to speak of. His greatest strength is said to be his negotiation expertise.

Park also replaced the senior secretaries for future strategy and employment and welfare. The decision reflects her growing impatience with the lack of progress in improving people’s livelihoods.

Park is well aware that people’s patience is very limited. So she reshuffled the secretaries as a way to step up pressure on the administration to deliver on her promises to expand welfare and create more jobs.