Cheong Wa Dae Press Release

June 23, 2008

Appointment of a presidential senior secretary put on hold

Presidential Spokesperson Lee Dong-kwan made the following remarks in a briefing this morning.

There have been some media reports about a research article of the newly appointed Senior Secretary Cheong Jean-gon for Education, Science and Culture.

I assume that you are already well aware of this matter and able to judge for yourself. In this regard, Senior Secretary Cheong said, “It is not plagiarism in the sense that people often talk about. According to my own conscience as a scholar, I don’t think I did anything to be shamed of, but I still feel sorry for causing public controversy.”

The newly appointed Senior Secretary himself made the request to the President that his appointment be put on hold until those in academia make a fair judgment, on the grounds that it could give theimpression that there are problems in the lineup of the newly appointed senior secretaries and in the Office of the President. That would be a disservice to the President. Accordingly, he is not going to participate in the ceremony for the presentation of appointment letters.

There seems to be a rumor that the former Chief of Staff Yu Woo-ik will be appointed a special policy advisor to the President, which has not been considered at all. There should not be any misunderstandings about that.

Some media have reported that the Prime Minister would be replaced. But I would like to clarify that no decision has been made yet. In addition, no decisions have been made about the timing, scope and ministers to be affected in a possible Cabinet reshuffle.

Today, the President named Mr. Park Hyung-jun as the Senior Officer for Public Affairs at Cheong Wa Dae. Mr. Park’s career includes membership in the 17th National Assembly, Spokesperson for the Grand National Party, Professor of sociology at Donga University and Joong-Ang Ilbo reporter. Born in Busan in 1960, he was graduated from Korea University.

The organization of the Office of the President is being fined tuned, and it will be announced soon.