Esteemed ex-judge to head Park’s transition committee

Kim Yong-jun, chairman of the presidential transition team

President-elect Park Geun-hye appointed Kim Yong-jun, a former head of the Constitutional Court, to lead the presidential transition team, Thursday, while naming a close aide and ruling party lawmaker as its deputy chief.

During the 60 days of its existence, Chairman Kim will oversee the team laying the groundwork for key issues on the new president’s national agenda.

Kim told reporters that he would do his best to help Park live up to her commitments of becoming a leader of unity and putting people’s livelihoods first.

Kim was a career headliner and something of a legend after overcoming polio. He passed the state-bar exam at the age of 20, and started his legal career in 1960 as the youngest judge in the nation’s history.

Chin Young, vice chairman of the transition team

During a briefing on the selections at the Saenuri Party, Yoon Chang-jung, the chief spokesman for the transition team, said Kim is expected to help Park execute her belief in the rule of law and security, and help the incoming government take over smoothly.

Yoon said, “expertise, managerial skills, patriotism, integrity and merit-based selections” were the five guidelines that the President-elect used when selecting team members.

“The transition team will be smaller but constructive,” he said.

The main opposition Democratic United Party downplayed Park’s selections as transition team members, saying they showed the President-elect’s “revolving door policy.”

In a statement, Rep. Yun Kwan-seok, a DUP spokesman, said the lineup was not impressive as most of them were key post holders of the Park camp during the election season.

A couple of celebrities, Yin Yo-han (John Linton), a professor at Yonsei University’s Severance Hospital and Kollen Park, an artistic director at Kyyk Musical Studio, were on the list. In general, however, the lineup didn’t come as a surprise as Park chose the usual suspects who had previously worked for her camp during the presidential election.

Park also named Rep. Chin Young, chief policymaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, as vice chairman of the transition team.

The three-term lawmaker oversaw Park’s presidential campaign vision during the campaign.

Kim is a symbolic figure to represent the transition team, whereas Chin will be in charge of reviewing the feasibility of Park’s campaign pledges before they are set as the national agenda under the new government.

Park also named Han Kwang-ok, a former presidential chief of staff to the late President Kim Dae-jung, as chairman of the newly-created Committee of National Unity.

In that capacity, Han will oversee the drawing up of measures to make Park’s policy focus on unity tangible. He was one of the key aides of former President Kim, a towering figure representing the nation’s western region while alive.

Kim Kyung-jae, a former lawmaker of the Democratic Party (now the Democratic United Party), will assist Han in producing reconciliation measures as a vice chairman of the committee.

The unity committee and the Special Committee for Youth are the two iconic bodies set up in the transition team.

Spokesman Yoon said the youth committee was established to produce measures to ease youth unemployment and other headaches facing young people.

Rep. Kim Sang-min, 38, of the ruling Saenuri Party was tapped to lead this committee. The first-term lawmaker was chosen as he was the founder of a university students’ voluntary service group.

Park unveiled the lineup of the six-member youth committee members including celebrity Kolleen Park.

The President-elect will unveil the second and third batch of transition team members soon, Yoon said. <The Korea Times/Kang Hyun-kyung>