New ROK leader plans to reorganize presidential office

ROK President Moon Jae-in walks with senior aides at the Blue House in Seoul on Thursday.Kimjoo Hyung / Yonhap Via Reuters

Moon also vows to move out of the Blue House in downtown Seoul

SEOUL - New President of the Republic of Korea Moon Jae-in on Thursday appointed senior presidential secretaries on his second day in office. Moon also wants to reorganize the presidential office, and the plan will be announced during an emergency cabinet meeting, his chief of staff, Im Jong-seok, told reporters.

Cho Kuk, 52, was named senior presidential secretary for civil affairs. Cho is a law professor of Seoul National University, and is regarded as one of the most reformist law experts.

Cho Hyun-ock, a professor of Ehwa Woman's University, was named senior presidential secretary for personnel affairs. It is the first time for a woman has been appointed to the role.

Yoon Young-chan, a former vice-president of the search engine Naver, was appointed senior press secretary, and Lee Joung-do, a former Finance Ministry official, was named secretary for general affairs.

Meanwhile, the presidential chief of staff said Moon's office will be reorganized.

Im, the chief of staff, said the reorganization plan was aimed to provide more autonomy to ministries.

Forming a committee, which will actually serve as a presidential transition team, is under consideration, he added.

In order to distance himself from his jailed predecessor Park Geun-hye, Moon plans to partially abandon one of the job's major perks: The mountainside presidential palace, or the Blue House.

A Gwanghwamun office

Addressing the nation after taking the oath of office on Wednesday, Moon vowed to eventually move out of the palace that dominates downtown Seoul, where every modern ROK president has lived and worked since the end of World War II.

Moon instead plans to commute to an office in the nearby streets of Gwanghwamun, near the square where millions took part in protests for months before Park was removed from office and arrested in March on corruption charges.

"After preparations are finished, I will step out of the Blue House and open the era of the Gwanghwamun president," Moon said in his speech, without offering a specific timeline. "I will be a president willing to communicate with people at any time."

Moon expects to find a much smaller presidential residence near Gwanghwamun. But he won't entirely abandon the Blue House. Officials from his presidential camp have told reporters that Moon will continue to use the Blue House's underground rooms for important national security meetings. He will also continue to use the Blue House's helicopter pad and also the Yeongbingwan Hall to greet foreign guests, they said.

But Moon plans to open the rest of the Blue House space to the public and convert the remaining buildings into museums or other facilities to draw tourists.

Xinhua - Ap