By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter

Justice Minister Kim Seung-kyu has emerged as the most competent candidate for new director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Chong Wa Dae officials said on Wednesday.

Observers speculate this might lead to a reshuffle of Cabinet ministers and presidential secretaries next month as a measure to help refresh the Roh Moo-hyun administration, which entered its third year last February.

Some ruling party members have called for a reshuffle of the government following the party’s defeat in the by-elections on April 30.

The top post at the spy agency has remained vacant since Ko Young-koo, 68, stepped down citing health reasons last month.

On Tuesday, Kim Woo-sik, presidential chief of staff, met the justice minister over dinner to sound him out, sources at Chong Wa Dae said. The justice minister had just returned from a visit to Brazil on the occasion of the Global Forum on Fighting Corruption. The justice minister, however, has yet to officially accept the offer.

Kim Seung-kyu, 61, served at the prosecution for about 15 years until he was appointed vice justice minister in 2001. After that, Kim served as director of local prosecution offices and briefly worked as a lawyer until he was named justice minister in July last year.

Following his predecessor Kang Kum-sil, Justice Minister Kim has been on the front of ``reform’’ within the prosecution since he took office. But the discord within the prosecution regarding the reform measures presented by the Presidential Committee on Judicial Reform remains unresolved.

The presidential office had initially considered National Security Advisor Kwon Jin-ho, former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun and former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yoon Young-kwan as likely candidates for NIS chief, according to the sources.

But Kim Seung-kyu scored higher marks for having served as justice minister and coming from Kwangyang in South Cholla Province.

Currently, Prosecutor-General Kim Jong-bin is also from the southwestern part of the country.

Huh Joon-young, commissioner-general of the National Police Agency, is from North Kyongsang Province and Lee Ju-sung, commissioner of the National Tax Service, from South Kyongsang Province, both of which lie in the nation’s southeastern part.

Rivalry between the two regions has been one of the deciding factors in naming senior government officials in South Korea.

If Kim Seung-kyu gets the recommendation from a Chong Wa Dae personnel affairs meeting, President Roh will likely appoint him as new NIS director as early as today.

New justice minister and other new Cabinet ministers will have to pass National Assembly confirmation hearings under an agreement struck between the ruling and opposition parties earlier this month.

saltwall@koreatimes.co.kr