Moon replaces senior secretary for public communication

President Moon Jae-in has named Park Soo-hyun, a former lawmaker, as new senior secretary for public communication, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday.

Park succeeds Chung Man-ho, who has been in the post for less than 10 months. Park worked as Moon's first Cheong Wa Dae spokesman starting in May 2017 after serving as lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party for four years from 2012. He left Cheong Wa Dae in 2018 in a failed bid to become governor of South Chungcheong Province. He was defeated in last year's parliamentary election as well.

"I will do my best to play a bridge role between Cheong Wa Dae and the people," he said in a statement.

The president also appointed Bang Jung-kyun, vice president of Sangji University in charge of social cooperation and professor of oriental medicine, as senior secretary for civic and social agenda. The university is located in Wonju, Gangwon Province. He is known for leading a civil movement to reform private schools.

Nam Young-sook, ambassador to Norway, has been tapped as adviser to the president for economic affairs. She was a professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

Having earned a master's degree in economics and Ph.D. in international development studies from Stanford University, she worked as an economist at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris and the International Labor Organization in Geneva.

The appointments are intended for the "stable management of state affairs and fresh momentum" in the final months of Moon's presidency, according to presidential chief of staff You Young-min, who made the announcement.

Moon also replaced his secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae for local autonomy and balanced development, institution reform and job creation as well as culture and gender equality and family affairs. (Yonhap)