Seoul, South Korea: A retired army general who is a defence strategy specialist will lead South Korea's new national crisis management office charged with addressing North Korean provocations, the government said on Friday.
The new office was created in the wake of North Korea's artillery attack on a front-line island near the Koreas' disputed western sea border.
The newly-named chief Ahn Kwang-chan once served as head of the Defence Ministry's policy bureau, was deputy chief of military strategy at the Joint Chiefs of Staff and has worked in the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command, President Lee Myung-bak's office said in announcing the appointment.
Warning
Four South Koreans, including two civilians, were killed in the November 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong island, which North Korea carried out after warning Seoul against conducting live-fire drills there.
The attack was the first on a civilian area since the 1950-53 Korean War.
