Scandal-hit S Korean president picks new chief of staff

TIL Desk/World/Seoul-South Korea’s embattled President Park Geun-Hye picked a new chief of staff today as part of a reshuffle of top aides aimed at quashing public discontent over a spiralling political scandal. Han Gwang-Ok, a former aide to late President Kim Dae-Jung, was named chief of staff, an appointment the presidential Blue House said would help get the rattled administration back on track.

The 74-year-old veteran politician, a long serving liberal who switched sides and joined Park’s administration in 2013, has dedicated his life to “democracy and national reconciliation”. “He is well suited to assist the president from the citizens’ perspective,” presidential spokesman Jung Youn-Kuk said. Park is scrambling to deflect rising public anger over a scandal engulfing her administration in which her close friend Choi Soon-sil, who has been detained for questioning since Monday, is accused of influence peddling and meddling in state affairs.

In an effort to deflect some of the criticism, Park had been urged to create a neutral cabinet by bringing in members from outside her ruling conservative Saenuri Party. She has reached across the traditional political divide with a host of new appointments, including tapping a liberal politician as her new prime minister – a largely symbolic post.