South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Thursday conducted a follow-up shakeup of the presidential office and cabinet amid escalating political and public fury over behind-the-scene power abuses by her friend and her clandestine clan, borrowing another heavyweight from the other side of the political aisle as her new chief of staff.

Han Kwang-ok, chairman of Presidential Committee for National Cohesion, was named as the new chief presidential secretary, and Hur Won-je, a former journalist-turned-politician, was appointed as the new senior secretary for political affairs to replace controversial Woo Byung-woo charged of acting go-between the president and her controversial friend Choi Soon-sil as well as other multiple personal wrongdoings.

Woo and former chief of staff as well as the president’s key personal aides were hurriedly sacked early this week after Choi returned home from overseas to comply with prosecution probe amid chain exposures about Choi’s unfettered abuse of power using the influence she had over the president to the extent of meddling in appointments, budgeting, and bullying companies to donate money.

The recruitment of a staunch veteran politician who had served as the chief of staff to dissident-turned-president Kim Dae-jung, however, won’t likely be met with public favor as her surprise appointment of the prime minister and other key cabinet members on Wednesday from the liberal background only backfired with the opposition now demanding the president to step down for playing tricks to buy time and evade accountability.

The Blue House on Wednesday appointed Kim Byong-joon, a former policy adviser to late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, as the new head of the cabinet to run state affairs on behalf of the disgraced president.

Han, a former four-term lawmaker, had served as the head of tripartite committee of government, labor and management, chief of staff to Kim, and the leader of Millennium Democratic Party under the 1998-2002 Kim administration. He joined the Park’s presidential campaign in 2012 and served as the chairman of Presidential Committee for National Cohesion under the Presidential Inaugural Committee for the incumbent president.

Hur, the new senior secretary for political affairs, formerly worked as a journalist for local newspapers and broadcasting companies. He sided with Park during the 2007 presidential campaign and served as a lawmaker from 2008 to 2012. Under the current Park administration, he served as the vice chairman of Korea Communications Commission.

By Nam Gi-hyun

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