South Korean President Park Geun-hye conducted a sweeping reshuffle of the presidential office disgraced with scandals related to the president’s so-called longtime friend Choi Soon-sil accused of exercising mighty and broad influence in state affairs and strong-arming companies to make donations.

She replaced five of her 10 senior secretaries - chief of staff Lee Wong jong, senior presidential secretary for policy coordination An Chong-bum, senior secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo, senior secretary for political affairs Kim Jae-won, and senior secretary for public relations affairs Kim Sung-woo.

Woo, charged of condoning and protecting Choi on top of a number of allegations on personal wrongdoings, was replaced by Choi Jae-kyong, a former chief prosecutor of Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office. Bae Sung-rye, a former National Assembly spokesperson, was named as the new chief presidential spokesman.

Other replacements would be made later, said Blue House spokesman Jeong Yeon-guk.

Three personal secretaries dubbed as the “doorknobs” to the president because of their influence over the president - Lee Jae-man, Chung Ho-sung and Ahn Bong-geun - were also sacked. Chung is suspected of regularly sending presidential speeches and documents on confidential state affairs to Choi.

Choi, an old friend of Park, faces prosecution probe on the most scandalous meddling in state affairs by a civilian. Media reports and allegations so far paint her as a puppeteer behind the president and a bully arm-twisting companies to make heavy donations to nonprofit organizations serving for her and the president.

Park made a public apology last week, partly admitting to her friend’s influence saying she sought her help in writing her speeches that included her most important speech in Dresden, Germany, that contained her vision for unification with North Korea.

The influence-peddling scandal has sparked a huge public outrage, and tens of thousands of citizens took to the streets to demand Park’s resignation over the weekends. Prosecutors raided the homes of key presidential aides implicated in the scandal on Saturday. Choi voluntarily returned to Korea on Sunday for questioning from Germany where she had been staying.

Presidential spokesperson Jeong told reporters Sunday that “the president is fully aware of the gravity of the situation,” adding that she accepted resignations submitted by her chief of staff and some of the presidential secretaries to respond to the public’s demand.

By Nam Gi-hyun

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]