By Kim Yon-se
Staff Reporter
President-elect Lee Myung-bak Tuesday instructed incoming Cabinet ministers and the presidential secretaries to remove firewalls to maximize efficiency in running the government.
At a workshop with the Cabinet nominees and his aides in Seoul, Lee said, ``Cabinet members and presidential secretaries should cooperate with colleagues at other departments.'' The two-day workshop ended later in the day.
Citing his experience as a Cabinet member for eight months, the former Seoul mayor said the problem lies in the culture in which there is little policy coordination among ministries and departments of Cheong Wa Dae.
``Each ministry did not want to intervene in matters of the others and each ministry did not want to be meddled in,'' he said. ``But these days all ministries and departments need to seriously discuss all national agenda such as global economic turmoil by eliminating the China wall.''
Should a ministry show indifference to others' pending issues, it is difficult for the Cabinet to make effective policymaking, and this will be a big loss for the country, he stressed.
Lee announced the lineup of seven senior presidential secretaries and 15 ministers Monday.
Except for the senior secretary for civil affairs, Lee excluded bureaucrats from the list. He favored graduates of his alama mater as two of the seven are graduates of Korea University and one is a professor there.
By age, two are in their 60s, two in the early 50s and four in their 40s. The majority have teaching positions at universities.
The President-elect announced the breakdown of weeks of inter-party talks on downsizing the government Monday and made public 15 nominees for his first Cabinet. Earlier, he nominated former Minister of Foreign Affairs Han Seung-soo as prime minister.
The liberal United Democratic Party criticized the nominations as ``illegal'' and threatened to boycott nomination hearings before he takes the oath of office on Feb. 25.
The nomination came after the UDP and the Grand National Party (GNP) were unable to compromise on the proposed government reorganization bill.
Lee emphasized that there was no more time to lose, as ``great confusion'' would take place in national affairs if the announcement of Cabinet members were to be further delayed.
Lee's transition committee strove Tuesday to contain the escalating tension, stressing for more room for negotiations with the UDP.
``If the negotiations reach a compromise, we could change the titles of the new ministers,'' said committee spokesman Lee Dong-kwan.
``Although the negotiations should continue, we can wait no longer as the President cannot conduct any legal activity without the Cabinet,'' he said.