(ANN)
Updated: 2007-12-28 07:16

A powerful group of prominent conservatives is expected to pilot president-elect Lee Myung-bak's transition team.

South Korea's President-elect Lee Myung-bak (L) hangs a signboard with Lee Kyung-sook, chairman of Lee's transition committee, during the opening ceremony of the president transition committee, to prepare for Lee's inauguration, in Seoul, South Korea, December 26, 2007. [Agencies]

"This is the day we start a new government. How this committee performs will be a mirror of the ensuing five years," Lee said at the committee's plate-hanging ceremony Wednesday.

He finished making appointments to key positions for the 182-member committee--thereby officially launching his transition team--and promises to invite experts from the private sector and members of the Cheong Wa Dae staff.

In accordance with Lee's election promises regarding national advancement and stability, the transition team is rapidly being filled with experienced right-wing elites and professionals.

Political analysts say that, overall, this staff signals a shift to an older and more experienced group--a change from the young liberals who dominated the Roh Moo-hyun government.

Lee won in a landslide last Wednesday after promising to refocus on growth and constancy after a decade of two progressive governments.

The academics on the takeover team are also mostly pro-business scholars, while those on Roh's transition team had been focused on welfare and wealth-distribution issues.

The president-elect had said that he would exclude politicians from the team. But he decided to allot some of the key posts to politicians on the advice of senior Grand National Party members, including Chairman Kang Jae-sup.

"The politicians and experts, everyone, was selected based strictly on expertise and performance," said his spokesman Joo Ho-young.

In total, Lee appointed 22 of the 26 executive members. Joo said the other posts were left open for last-minute additions.

Sagong Il, a former finance minister who currently chairs the Institute for Global Economics, was appointed to co-chair the subcommittee on national competitiveness, together with David Eldon, chairman of the Dubai International Financial Center Authority.

GNP Rep Kim Hyong-o, who was recently appointed as deputy chairperson of the transition committee to assist chairwoman Lee Kyung-sook, will be the co-vice chairperson of the subcommittee, along with Yoon Jin-sik, a former commerce minister.

Committed conservatives are lined up on Lee Myung-bak's own secretarial staff--namely Lim Tae-hee, 51, a veteran GNP legislator who served as one of his confidants during the campaign.

The president-elect, however, has yet to appoint Chung Doo-un, another key aide, to his executive staff. Chung is a newer member of the GNP, and he gained the president-elect's trust while working beside him at Seoul City Hall.

The possible exclusion of Chung and a number of other lawmakers who worked on the election team reflects the president-elect's determination not to rely on politicos, analysts say.

But in order to maintain close contact with political insiders, Lee filled the secretariat positions for the seven subdivisions with key conservative aides, such as the three-term GNP legislator Maeng Hyung-kyu, who will be the secretary of planning and coordination, and Jin Soo-hee, a GNP spokeswoman who was appointed as secretary of the division on state administration.

GNP lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan was named secretary of one of the two economic divisions, with former Finance Minister Kang Man-soo heading the other. Park Jin, another prominent conservative GNP legislator, will be the secretary of the foreign affairs and the unification division. The legal division will be headed by Chung Dong-ki, a former Deputy Justice Minister, while Lee Joo-ho, another GNP legislator, will lead the social and education division.