South Korean President Kim Dae-jung sacked his foreign minister yesterday in a sweeping Cabinet shake-up that analysts expect will rejuvenate diplomatic engagement with Washington and Pyongyang.
Kim named ex-ambassador to the US and former commerce minister Han Seung-soo as the new foreign minister.
Analysts said Han's appointment reflected efforts to keep rapprochement with North Korea on track and to smooth over recently ruffled ties with Washington.
"The president is seeking to specialize each post," said Shin Wookhee, professor of international relations at Seoul National University.
Kim replaced nine of the Cabinet's 20 ministers yesterday, less than a week after sacking the health minister in the wake of a controversial law revision expected to spark large cost overruns for the national heath insurance system.
"[The new ministers] are likely to express their own opinions more," Shin said. "That will help cultivate balanced policies."
The president named Lim Dong-won, a key architect of Kim's "sunshine policy" of greater engagement with North Korea, as unification minister, Seoul's top post in reconciliation efforts with Pyongyang.
Lim is former head of the National Intelligence Service.
He is not expected to alter Seoul's approach, analysts said, but moving the former spymaster was seen as positive as it would help separate the spy agency's activities from the ministry in charge of thawing Cold War tensions with the North.
"There had been questions about whether the head of the National Intelligence Service was in the right post to handle rapprochement with North Korea," Shin said.
"This now means the Unification Ministry will single-handledly lead engagement, in line with its original function," Shin said.
New Defense Minister Kim Dong-shin is not expected to bring big changes as he is a career military man and former Army chief of staff.
Kim's shake-up of his Cabinet comes on the heels of a series of gaffes and is seen designed to fortify his ruling coalition as he heads into the last two years of his five-year term still faced with economic reform and sensitive diplomatic tasks.
The new foreign minister hails from one of two small political parties that Kim's ruling Millennium Democratic Party relies on to pass reforms bills and other important legislation.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary