S. Korea's Lee fires finance minister

SEOUL, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak says he has fired his finance minister in a bid to revive the country's struggling economy.

The Cabinet reshuffle was long anticipated, marking the start of the second year of Lee's five-year presidential term, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported Monday.

"The focus of the reshuffle has been to reorganize the government's economic team that will carry out the most urgent, pressing task of reviving the country's economy," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan told reporters.

Under the new alignment, finance minister Kang Man-soo will be replaced by Yoon Jeung-hyun, who was an economic official under the former Roh Moo-hyun government. Kang has been widely blamed for misguiding the country into the ongoing financial crisis, but his successor is expected to have very limited impact on Lee's responses to the recession, Yonhap said.

Meanwhile, Lee also fired Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong, who was Seoul's point man on North Korean issues, who was sacked as ties with Pyongyang have deteriorated. On Saturday, the North said its armed forces would assume a posture of "all-out confrontation" with the South, the news agency said.