hankyoreh

the minster of food

Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and the entire Cabinet offered their resignations to President Lee Myung-bak on June 10. With letters of resignation from all of the ministers in the Cabinet, which were delivered after all of the senior presidential secretaries tendered their resignations on June 6, the scale of the personnel reshuffle within the government is likely to be larger than expected.

In a weekly report given to President Lee earlier in the day, Prime Minister Han and the 15 Cabinet ministers expressed their intention to resign as a way to take responsibility for the recent controversy over the U.S. beef agreement, according to presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan. “Although the entire Cabinet has offered to resign, (their resignations) will be processed at the time of the personnel reshuffle, including a planned reshuffle of Cabinet posts. To prevent a vacuum in the government, the ministers will work at their posts for the time being. It is difficult to say that a full-scale Cabinet reshuffle can be expected,” the presidential spokesman said.

Attention is now focused on how many Cabinet ministers and presidential aides President Lee will replace. The biggest issue hinges on whether the president will replace Presidential Chief of Staff Ryu Woo-ik and Prime Minister Han. The current feeling is that Ryu may be replaced, while Han’s fate is more dependant upon public opinion.

The other variable in the planned Cabinet reshuffle is Park Geun-hye, the former chairwoman of the ruling Grand National Party. She has been cited as a possible candidate to replace Han. Rep. Lee Sang-deuk, President Lee’s elder brother, and other senior GNP officials have frequently said that Park should be named to the post to act as the relief pitcher. In this case, however, President Lee must guarantee that Park assumes the status of a prime minister “with actual influence.” The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae, or the Blue House, is in agony because appointing Park is sure to weaken Lee’s power considerably.

Meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae is trying to move up the date of its personnel reshuffle. No one knows exactly when the reshuffle can happen, however, because there are several pending, complex issues involved, including the possibility of additional beef negotiations. In addition, Cheong Wa Dae could be completely revamped and the Cabinet could be filled with a whole set of new ministers. Added to that is the opening of the 18th National Assembly, whose members were elected in early April.

Lee, the presidential spokesman, said, “The personnel reshuffle will be the final process through which the situation (discontent over the U.S. beef agreement) will be addressed. Isn’t it right to do this after public resentment has been dispelled?”

The spokesman’s remark indicates that the government may announce the outcome of its meeting with the U.S. government on around June 12, when the South Korean delegation for the beef talks returns home. It could be that major changes in government personnel could be timed to occur after this event. It is believed that the South Korean delegation asked the U.S. government to guarantee that it will ban exports of beef from cattle older than 30 months of age, seen as a tougher regulation than the voluntary export restrictions it had proposed earlier.

However, it remains unclear just to what extent the South Korean government will be able to calm the general public, who have demanded that the government renegotiate its beef deal with the United States and guarantee that it will ban imports of U.S. beef from cattle older than 30 months of age as well as a full-scale dismissal of current Cabinet ministers and presidential aides. Regarding this, a GNP lawmaker said, “For now, people are hoping to hear the words ‘we will renegotiate.’ So even if the government were to present the strongest countermeasure available, its effectiveness would still be questioned.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]