President Park Geun-hye on Friday appointed Kim Dong-keuk, her secretary for personnel affairs, as the new personnel management minister, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said. Kim will replace Lee Geun-myeon, who has resigned due to "health issues."

During some three decades of public service, Kim has specialized in personnel affairs and has a firm grasp of Park's statecraft philosophy and policy line regarding personnel management, presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk told reporters. "As he has been noted for his reasonable and balanced handling of public affairs, we expect that he is well fit to wrap up personnel reform in the fourth year of the administration," Jung said.  

Lee, who formerly managed human resources at Samsung Electronics Co., tendered his resignation several months ago as his health has deteriorated, a source said. He is known to have undergone heart surgery in the past.
Some observers raised the possibility that Lee was dismissed because his corporate way of handling personnel affairs might have irked the officialdom. (Yonhap)