MOON DESIGNATES LEE AS BOK GOVERNOR

[Anchor Lead]

The gap between the current administration and the President-elect appears to be growing wider during the transition period. CheongWaDae claimed that President Moon Jae-in had asked for President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s thoughts when he nominated a candidate for the Bank of Korea governor. But Yoon’s office publicly denied that he was invited to the discussion.

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The nation's top office announced Lee Chang-yong, director of Asia and Pacific Department at the International Monetary Fund, is nominated as the new Bank of Korea governor. This announcement was made Wednesday afternoon after a short notice.

[Soundbite] Park Soo-hyun(Senior Pres. Secretary for Public Communication) : "He is expected to stabilize inflation and the financial market with effective and consistent monetary policies that respond to economic and financial situations at home and abroad."

A high-ranking CheongWaDae official said the announcement was made with the president-elect’s input... in order to minimize the vacuum created after current Governor Lee Ju-yeol’s departure late this month. For a short while, the mention of Yoon's involvement gave rise to speculations that the conflict between the two sides was on the mend, but the President-elect's associates immediately refuted the claim. Yoon’s chief of staff Chang Je-won, who has been working as a go-between, said that the top office called just ten minutes before the announcement, to which he told them to do whatever they wanted. His account runs contrary to CheongWaDae’s claim.

[Soundbite] Chang Je-won(Chief of Staff for President-Elect) : "We cannot see it as a reconciliatory gesture. We have never talked about the man."

The appointment of a new BOK chief was one of the thorny personnel issues that kept the current and future leaders from sitting down for a post-election meeting. The recent personnel appointment has caused the two to fall deeper into discord. Subsequently, both sides met with reporters to refute each other’s claims back and forth. The President-elect’s office said that CheongWaDae is trying to justify its personnel choice for the new Bureau of Audit and Inspection commissioners... while a CheongWaDae official threatened to disclose everything if Yoon’s office keeps lying. The two sides left only harsh words as they demonstrated stark differences. Meanwhile, Lee Chang-yong will be appointed by President Moon once he passes the National Assembly’s confirmation hearing.