Park Geun-hye’s flip flopping and double-talking

Posted on : 2012-07-16 13:15 KST Modified on : 2012-07-16 13:15 KST
Presidential frontrunner claims to be ’playing by the rules‘; her behavior shows otherwise

By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter

The voting down of a motion last week for the arrest of New Frontier Party (NFP) lawmaker Chung Doo-un has attention turning to Park Geun-hye’s insistence on “playing by the rules.”

Some are saying Park’s behavior in the lead-up to December’s presidential election has been a mixture of trend-following and corner-cutting - a stark contrast with the vehement insistence on principle that she showed when she opposed a revision of the plan for a multifunctional administrative city in Sejong.

[Different Circumstances, Different Rules?]

Another NFP presidential hopeful, former Chief of Staff Yim Tae-hee, said Park had taken very different tacks on Chung and her own younger brother Ji-min, both of whom were implicated in recent cases of bribery related to savings banks.

Speaking at a July 15 press conference at the NFP offices in Yeouido, Yim said that after allegations surfaced that Park Ji-min and his wife had colluded with Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank honorary chairman Shin Sam-gil back in June, Park Geun-hye said that “he said it wasn’t him, and that’s good enough.”

“I’m puzzled as to why, after handling the situation like that, she’s now doing a complete 180° this time,” Yim said, zeroing in on her insistence on having Chung clear the situation up himself after taking her own brothers word on his noninvolvement. “Is this what she means by ‘rules’ and ‘reform’?”

Another prospective candidate, Ahn Sang-soo, accused Park Geun-hye of “saying one thing yesterday and another today.”

Park’s remarks Friday about Chung Doo-un also ran counter to her own previously stated position that the party leadership, including the chairperson or floor leader, should take responsibility for major party or parliamentary decisions.

Just after the arrest motion was shot down on July 12, her election camp said the matter had “absolutely nothing to do with the candidate camp,” including everyone from the head of the election measures office to its spokesperson. A lawmaker handling PR for the camp even asked, “How you can ask everything of a single lawmaker? The explanation was in keeping with the position she had been expressing until that point.”

Now her statements from Friday are calling that account of things into question.

Many are saying cracks began to show in Park’s emphasis on “principle,” which had reached its zenith with her opposition to President Lee Myung-bak’s idea of altering the Sejong plan. During previous major elections, she had refused requests for assistance from the party leadership, saying she had stated on numerous occasions that she believed the party leaders should be the central figures in an election.

But in last year’s Seoul mayoral election, when independent candidate Park Won-soon came on strong with the backing of software guru Ahn Cheol-soo, Park Geun-hye went on the stump for the NFP’s candidate, Na Kyung-won. At the time, Park was not a member of the NFP leadership.

Park also deviated from her own position during the 19th National Assembly elections when she gave up on running for a local constituency seat to bid for a proportional representation seat instead. In media interviews throughout December, she said running for a local constituency seat was a “precious promise to the constituency residents that I have to honor.” But that all changed after a conversation with residents prior to the elections. Park ended up running as the eleventh proportional representation candidate.

“I think she’s been getting more and more arrogant and impatient as the president election draws closer,” said one NFP lawmaker.

A party official said, “Park Geun-hye’s ‘rules’ are self-centered, and seem geared to getting votes in the presidential election.”

 

[Growing controversy over the ‘Park Party’]

There are also signs that Park could be turning the NFP into her own party. Lawmaker Nam Kyung-pil expressed his worries about the effects of this during a press conference Sunday at the party offices.

“If we keep seeing the same situation where Park Geun-hye gives a press conference before a general meeting of lawmakers is held, and what she says then gets decided on as the party’s position, then the public is going to think democracy has disappeared from the party,” he fretted.

“At this rate, there isn’t going to be a horizontal, democratic relationship between the party and the Blue House if she does get elected,” Nam said.

Yim Tae-hee said, “Look at what happened when they made the decision on the primary rules. All of a sudden, everything I had discussed with the party chairman and the head of the primary administration committee was completely ignored.”

“If it isn’t party monopolization to have one person’s opinion placed above that of an official body, then I don‘t know what is,” Yim added.

A key member of Park’s camp countered that “we need to be shipshape for the elections.”

“Our goal needs to be an election win, rather than everyone airing their opinion,” the same camp member said.

A core member of the party leadership said the supreme council had made headway toward resolving the situation, adding, “Park Geun-hye is not someone who gives orders.”

 

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