SEOUL: South Korean President Park Geun-hye named a former land minister as the new finance minister on Monday to succeed Choi Kyung-hwan, who has expressed his intention to resign to run for parliamentary elections early next year, an official at the presidential office said.

Yoo Il-ho, a former Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister, is not required to obtain a parliamentary approval but has to go through verification hearings before assuming the top post in managing Asia's fourth-largest economy.

Copyright Reuters, 2015