[News analysis] With crises brewing at home, Pres. Park had ample reason to delay US trip

Posted on : 2015-06-11 15:34 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Park announced she would stay back to manage MERS outbreak, while her PM nominee is another question
 at the Blue House press room in Seoul
at the Blue House press room in Seoul

In order to placate public sentiment, which has turned against the government after its poor initial response to the MERS outbreak, President Park Geun-hye played a trump card on June 10 by delaying her visit to the US.

By pushing back her visit to the US, South Korea’s most important diplomatic partner, on the pretext of public safety, Park is trying to kill two birds with one stone. She hopes to deflect criticism that she has been sitting on her hands during a national emergency while also finding a way out of a deadlock over her nominee for prime minister and a revision to the National Assembly Act.

Since Park has postponed her trip to the US to deal with the MERS outbreak, the next question is whether she will personally oversee the fight against MERS on a daily basis.

Unsurprisingly, the first reason for Park’s sudden decision to delay her trip to the US just four days before she was scheduled to depart is the steady decline in her approval rating.

Given that ongoing criticism that the government’s sloppy initial response was the decisive factor that enabled MERS to spread, it was obvious that Park’s visit to the US would exacerbate distrust in a government that is perceived as irresponsible.

Since this month is the midway point in Park’s term as president, she likely thinks that if her leadership suffers a severe blow now it would be difficult to recover.

On top of that, Park’s traumatic experience with overseas tours in the past likely played a part. Park was castigated by the South Korean public after heading to the United Arab Emirates following her public apology on May 19, 2014, just one month after the tragic sinking of the Sewol ferry, and after going ahead with a trip to South America on the one-year anniversary of the accident on Apr. 16 of this year.

In a poll about Park’s visit to the US published on Wednesday by South Korean polling company Real Meter, respondents who thought that Park should delay her trip outnumbered those who thought she should go as planned by a wide margin of 53.2% to 39.2%.

Furthermore, many politicians predicted that Park’s approval rating would fall much further if she went on the trip.

As signs of a MERS-related slowdown of consumption and economic downturn start to have a substantial effect on the real economy, the deterioration of public support is even faster and more widespread than during the Sewol disaster.

Along with this, the disagreement between the Blue House and the ruling and opposition parties about a revision to the National Assembly Act and whether this will be vetoed and the commotion about approving the appointment of Hwang Kyo-ahn as Prime Minister also seem to have affected Park’s decision.

Not only was it uncertain whether the National Assembly would be able to approve Park’s appointment in the four days remaining before her scheduled departure, but even if it did, it would have been politically unwise for Park to depart the country and hand off responsibility for crisis management to the newly appointed prime minister.

If the Saenuri Party‘s efforts to force a vote on Hwang’s appointment before Park‘s departure had brought the National Assembly to a standstill, Park would have had to shoulder all of the blame. This would also have likely left Park with no excuse to exercise her veto power on the revision of the National Assembly Act, which is yet another point of contention. In short, if Park had gone ahead with her trip to the US, she would have had to pay far too great a price.

Since Park did not have any urgent business to discuss or any speeches to make during this trip to the US, it was less awkward to ask the US government to accept a delay of the trip, which is thought to be another factor motivating Park’s decision.

While Park’s visit to the US will inevitably be compared with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s trip there this past April when he made a speech before a joint session of Congress, Park already made such a speech in 2013.

Given that South Korea’s response to the MERS outbreak is receiving international attention, Park had plenty of cause to delay her trip to the US.

 

By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent

 

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

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