S.Korea parliament approves reformist premier

South Korea's parliament voted on Tuesday to approve former political dissident Lee Hae-chan as prime minister, setting the stage for a small-scale cabinet reshuffle.

Lee, 51, is a five-term member of parliament who was jailed for several years as a political prisoner for opposing South Korea's military rulers in the 1970s and 1980s. He helped set up the ruling Uri Party of President Roh Moo-hyun.

Roh tapped Lee earlier this month to replace Goh Kun, a veteran administrator who resigned last month. Lee is expected to name new culture, health and unification ministers in the coming days.

The 299-seat National Assembly approved Lee by a vote of 200 for and 84 against. Roh's Uri Party has a thin majority of 152 seats in the single-chamber parliament, meaning Lee also received support from opposition parties.

Roh's left-of-centre government faces rising labour unrest, delicate nuclear negotiations with communist North Korea and continued fallout from the killing in Iraq last week of a South Korean man by insurgents demanding that Seoul scrap plans to send troops to help rebuild the country.

Source: CD/Agencies