Anchor: In a surprise announcement on Sunday, President Lee Jae Myung picked former three-term conservative lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon to head the new planning and budget ministry. While the top office said the decision reflects a pragmatic approach to state affairs, the conservative main opposition wasted no time in expelling the nominee for what it considers an act of disloyalty.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: On Sunday President Lee Jae Myung nominated former conservative lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon as the inaugural minister for planning and budget.

The new ministry is set to launch January 2 under the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and take over some functions from the finance ministry.

As a veteran economist, the former lawmaker served three terms affiliated with conservative parties that preceded the main opposition People Power Party(PPP) and was a vice chair on the Assembly’s special committee on budget and accounts.

In a statement following her nomination, Lee said the rival parties should cooperate to tackle the economy and bread-and-butter issues regardless of differences in faction or ideology.

The nominee then pledged to do her best to support the administration in reaching its policy goals of sustainable growth and a stronger social safety net.

Another former conservative lawmaker, Kim Seong-sik, was appointed to the minister-level post of vice chair of the National Economic Advisory Council.

The top office explained that the president’s unconventional picks from outside the ruling camp reflect his principles of unity and pragmatism in state affairs.

The president also appointed six-term ruling Democratic Party Rep. Cho Jeong-sik as a special adviser for political affairs, and National Research Council for Economics, Humanities and Social Sciences Chairperson Lee Han-joo was chosen as a special adviser for state policy.

Meanwhile, the main opposition convened a Supreme Council meeting and expelled Lee Hye-hoon from the party, saying she caused grave harm to the PPP by accepting the nomination while serving as chief of one of its regional councils in Seoul with only six months left until the local elections.

The ruling party, on the other hand, said her nomination reflects the president’s moderate, pragmatic style of handling personnel matters and that the PPP was overreacting. 
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.