Park Geun-hye
Park Geun-hye Reuters

South Korean president Park Geun-hye replaced seven ministers on Friday, the first reordering of her cabinet since she took office in February 2013.

Park named Choi Kyoung-hwan, a former commerce minister and member of the ruling party, as deputy prime minister for economic affairs according to Yonhap News.

Park has replaced a number of high officials since the Sewol ferry disaster in April that killed 288 people, mostly high school students, and left 16 people unaccounted for. South Korea's Prime Minister Jung Hong-won resigned from his post less than two weeks after the ferry disaster.

It is common for South Korean leaders to reshuffle their governments after disaster or in response to disapproval from South Koreans.