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S Korean ministers sacked in cabinet shakeup

(Xinbua)
Updated: 2009-01-19 21:40

SEOUL -- South Korean finance and unification ministers were sacked Monday to ease public dissatisfaction over slowing economy and worsening relations with the Democratic People 's Republic of Korea, Yonhap reported.

File photo of South Korean Minister of Strategy and Finance Kang Man-Soo. South Korea's president Monday sacked Kang and the top policymaker on North Korea amid a worsening economic downturn and frosty ties with the North. [Agencies]

The Finance Minister Kang Man-soo has been widely blamed for failing to forecast the ongoing economic difficulties and adopting a series of "misguided" policies that made the country more vulnerable to the global financial crisis, Yonhap said.

Yoon Jeung-hyun, former head of the Financial Supervisory Committee (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), was tapped to succeed him.

Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong will be replaced by Hyun In- taek, a professor of political science from Seoul's Korea University, Yonhap also said.

Monday's reshuffle also included two other ministerial-level posts, chief of staff for prime minister and the head of the Financial Services Commission.

Kwon Tae-shin, a career government administrator, was promoted to the position of prime minister's chief of staff while Chin Dong- soo, president of the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea, was tapped to head the Financial Services Commission, according to the presidential spokesman.

Also to be replaced in the latest government shakeup are 15 vice ministerial-level officials.