S. Korean Leader Picks Woman for No. 2 Spot

SEOUL — South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun nominated lawmaker Han Myung-sook today to be prime minister. If confirmed by parliament, she would become the first woman to hold the government’s No. 2 position.

The nomination came a week after Lee Hae-chan stepped down as prime minister following strong public and opposition criticism for playing golf rather than overseeing the government’s response to a railway strike on a national holiday March 1.

Han is a two-term lawmaker who was minister of gender equality and family under former President Kim Dae-jung, and she previously served as environment minister under Roh.

The prime minister is largely a ceremonial job in South Korea, where power is concentrated in the president’s office. A previous female candidate for the post failed to be confirmed in parliament in 2002.

The current president has increasingly been viewed as a lame duck, with his approval ratings sliding to record lows after a failed attempt to form a grand coalition with the opposition and a stall in the country’s economy.

Roh took office in 2003 and is constitutionally barred from running again, but last month he suggested that even the single five-year term for president might be “a little too long.”