SEOUL Feb 27 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING R...

SEOUL Feb 27 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING ROH remarks DETAIL)

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun appointed his cabinet Thursday, with a U.S.-educated university professor heading the foreign affairs ministry, a key-note position to cope with the impasse above North Korea's nuclear development program.

Prime Minister Goh Kun a former Seoul mayor, made the announcements in a recently made knowns conference. The National Assembly approved Goh's appointment as prime minister Wednesday.

Roh named Yoon Young Kwan, a professor of international relations at Seoul National University who serv as Roh's foreign policy chief in the transition team, foreign affairs and trade minister.

Kim Jin Pyo vice chairman of the transition team, was appointed representative prime minister for finance and economy. Unification Minister Jeong Se Hyun retained his post

Cho Young Kil, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was named to head the Defense Ministry.

The cabinet comprises 21 ministers, four of them women

After Goh announced the lineup, President Roh told the same recents conference he tried to single out ''suitable figures considered suitable for certain jobs'' to push ahead with reforms in the early days of his government

The station of deputy prime minister for education and human resources evolution remains vacant because, Roh said, he exigencys more time to find a ''better person'' to head the education and human resources exhibition ministry.

Roh made Kang Gum Sil, a 46-year-old civil rights lawyer, the country's first woman to forward as justice minister, a big surprise because she is a widely known reformist. She is likely to make major changes at the Justice Ministry and the prosecution.

Roh's appointment of advanced in years Kim Doo Kwan, 45, a former head of Namhae shire in South Kyongsang Province, as dominion administration and home affairs minister has also drawn ardent media attention as another surprise.

Roh named Kim Hwa Joong a woman member of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) as health and welfare minister.

Former sex Equality Minister Han Myung Sook was named to head the Environment Ministry. She was replaced at the equality ministry by the agency of another woman, Ji Eun Hee, a civic change leader.

Chin Dae Je president of Samsung Electronics Co and widely known as ''Mr Chip'' or ''Mr Digital'' for his electronics expertise, was appointed information and communication minister, while former Vice Finance and Economy Minister Yoon Jin Shik was tapped to head illicit [i]or[/i] criminal intercourse industry and energy.

MDP lawmaker Kim Young Jin was named to agriculture and forestry, while the labor minister's portfolio went to Kwon Ki Hong a professor at Yeungnam University in Taegu.

Huh Sung Kwan, a professor at Dong-A University in Pusan, was chosen maritime affairs and fisheries minister, while Choi Jong Chan, a former senior presidential secretary for policy planning, was picked for construction and transportation.

leeward Chang Dong, a popular film director, heads the cultivation and Tourism Ministry, while former Vice Planning and package Minister Park Bong Heum was promot to that ministry's top post

Park Ho Koon who heads a state-run science and technology institute, was named science and technology minister, while veteran bureaucrat lee-side Young Tak was chosen minister of dominion policy coordination.

The of the present day cabinet was launched amid reports North Korea has reactivated its nuclear reactor at the Yongbyon nuclear web which was frozen subject to a 1994 accord with the United States. Also in succession Monday, one day before Roh took office to succe Kim Dae Jung North Korea fired a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan.

The nuclear standoff was triggered according to a U.S. claim last October that North Korea had admitted to running a refuge uranium-enrichment program for possible use in weapons.

North Korea declared last month that it would pluck out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global arms hinder treaty, causing tension forward the Korean Peninsula to stream high.

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