[USFK Forums]Security official likely to become S. Korea's point man on N.Korea [AFP]

[C. Y. Lee]

Uploaded by C. Y. Lee on Wednesday, December 28, 2005

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Asia Pacific News, Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 28 December 2005 1635 hrs

Security official likely to become South Korea's point man on North Korea

SEOUL(AFP) : A presidential adviser on security may become South Korea's next unification minister heading negotiations with North Korea, Prime Minister Lee Hae-Chan said.

Lee said the cabinet would be reshuffled twice early next year and Lee Jong-Seok was one of the candidates to succeed current Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young.
"There was no decision yet but Lee Jong-Seok is one of the candidates," the prime minister told reporters.

Chung, seen as a strong candidate for the 2007 presidential election, announced his resignation on Tuesday. He said he would return to work with the embattled ruling Uri Party, which is to elect new leaders in February.

Lee Jong-Seok has been serving since 2003 as deputy chief of the National Security Council (NSC), in charge of setting policy on security, North Korea and foreign affairs.

The NSC is officially headed by the president but the unification minister usually presides over its meetings as its standing chairman.

Another senior government official who asked not to be named confirmed that Lee was tipped to take over from Chung as both unification minister and chairman of the NSC.

The ruling party suffered crushing defeats in two National Assembly by-elections this year, forcing its chairman Moon Hee-Sang to resign.

Chung said his successor was likely to be appointed in early January.

Lee spent many years studying North Korea as an academic. He has been closely involved in drafting policy on Pyongyang since the government of President Roh Moo-Hyun's predecessor Kim Dae-Jung, whose "sunshine" policy of reconciliation led to a historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.

But he has become the target of attacks from conservatives who accuse him of pursuing appeasement with the Stalinist state at the cost of South Korea's traditional alliance with the United States.

- AFP/ir