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On Feb. 17, the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ) released the results of a survey of 300 professors, researchers, and other experts who were asked to assess President Park Geun-hye and her administration over the past two years. If this were Park’s report card, she would have gotten a D - a failing grade.

With the second anniversary of Park’s inauguration approaching on Feb. 25, the CCEJ interviewed 300 experts in the areas of politics, public administration, public policy, economics, social welfare, medicine, and education between Feb. 2 and Feb. 15. These experts were asked about Park’s governance style, her leadership, her job performance, and her overall policies.

In regard to Park’s leadership and governance style, 178 respondents, or more than half (59%), described them as “very undemocratic,” while 55 respondents (18%) said they were “undemocratic.” Just 7% of respondents said they were “very democratic” and “democratic,” respectively.

When asked about Park’s job performance, 164 respondents (55%) said she was doing a “very poor job,” while 74 (25%) said she was doing a “poor job.” Only a minority of respondents said she was doing a “very good job” (6%) or a “good job” (5%).

When the CCEJ published its report card for Park’s first year in office, 60% of respondents said she was doing a bad job. This year, that response went up by 20 percentage points.

The reasons provided for this negative assessment, with multiple answers permitted, were lack of ability and leadership (150, 63%), lack of communication and authoritarian behavior (106, 45%), backward thinking and old-fashioned situational understanding (97, 41%), failed appointments (24, 10%), and lack of professionalism (23, 10%).

On the topic of policies adopted by Park’s administration, 139 respondents (46%) said they were “very unsuccessful,” with 106 respondents (35%) describing them as “unsuccessful.” Only 10% of respondents thought they were “very successful” (4%) or “successful” (6%).

Reasons given for the failure of Park’s policies were that the policies had been oriented toward big business and the rich instead of the public interest (136, 56%), that her appointments had failed (132, 54%), and that she had pushed for policies unilaterally without public consent (51, 21%).

The most common recommendations for which cabinet member should be replaced as part of efforts to reform the government were Choi Kyung-hwan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance (150, 50%), and Hwang Kyo-ahn, Justice Minister (104, 35%).

By Oh Seung-hoon, staff reporter

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