Cheong Wa Dae names new defense minister



Kim Kwan-jin, former head of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, was named the country's new minister of defense on Saturday.



Cheong Wa Dae formally appointed the retired four-star Army general as the country's new defense chief, after Kim went through a confirmation hearing Friday.



Kim, 61, replaces Kim Tae-young, who came under fire over the military's allegedly inadequate and late response to North Korea's deadly shelling of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island near the tense Yellow Sea border on Nov. 23.



During his hearing, Kim Kwan-jin vowed to respond with air strikes in case of additional North Koran provocations.



The attack on Yeonpyeong killed two South Korean marines and two civilians, while forcing residents to evacuate their homes.



It was the first North Korean strike on a South Korean civilian area

since the 1950-53 Korean War.



The two countries remain technically at war since the Korean

War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.



(Yonhap News)



