President Park Geun-hye on Saturday nominated Nam Jae-joon, former Army chief of staff, as her first head of the state intelligence agency, her spokesman said.

The president also nominated Shin Je-yoon, the first vice finance minister, as head of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), the nation's financial watchdog, while Kim Dong-yeon, the second vice finance minister, was named to be chief of the Prime Minister's Office.

A professor at Seoul's Seokyeong University, Nam was a career soldier who served as Army chief of staff, chief director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Joint Operations Headquarter and the deputy commander of the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command.

In 2012, he was the top defense policy adviser for when she was the presidential candidate for the ruling Saenuri Party.

"With his clean and upright character, and a firm sense of national security, Nam is believed to be the right man to resolve the current security crisis and make the National Intelligence Service (NIS) fulfill its role," presidential spokesman Yoon Chang-jung said.

Shin, the nominee for the FSC chairman, is a leading specialist on international finance and worked as the FSC vice chairman and director of the finance ministry's international finance bureau.

Nam and Shin must undergo parliamentary confirmation hearings, though parliamentary approval is not required for their appointments, with the National Assembly simply able to express its consent or opposition in reports.

The nominations came before the parliament votes on a government reorganization bill under which the Prime Minister's Office will be split into the "office for government policy coordination" and an office for the Prime Minister's secretaries.

Park named the chief of the Prime Minister's Office under the present law although the office will be reorganized when the bill passes through parliament, Yoon said. He added that Kim's post will then be renamed into chief of the office for government policy coordination.

Some analysts say Park's unusual announcement of nominees on Saturday may be a strategy to put pressure on opposition parties opposing the bill. (Yonhap News)



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국정원장 남재준·금융위원장 신제윤 내정

박근혜 대통령은 2일 새 정부 초대 국가정보원장에 남재준 전 육군 참모총장을 내정했다. 또 금융위원장에는 신제윤 기획재정부 1차관을 내정했다. 국무조정실장에는 김동연 기재부 2차관이 임명됐다.

윤창중 청와대 대변인은 이날 춘추관 브리핑에서 이 같은 인선 내용을 발표하고 "북한의 핵실험으로 안보위기가 고조되고 연이은 도발 가능성이 있는 국가위기 상황에 대처하면서 국정공백을 최소화하고 국가 경제에 미칠 영향을 파악하고 예방하기 위해 시급한 인선을 우선적으로 발표하고자 한다"고 인선 배경을 설명했다.

남재준 국정원장 내정자는 육군참모총장과 합동참모본부 작전본부장, 한미연합사 부사령관을 지낸 군인 출신이다.

신제윤 금융위원장 내정자는 금융위원회 부위원장과 기획재정부 국제업무관리관, 기획재정부 국제금융국장을 지낸 국제금융전문가이다.