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Saenuri Party leader Lee Jung-hyun speaks at a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly

On Dec. 6, just three days before a vote will be held in the National Assembly on a motion for her impeachment, President Park Geun-hye effectively declared war on the people. If the National Assembly rejects a proposal for Park to step down in April and goes ahead with the vote, Park indicated, she will carry the fight to the Constitutional Court even if the vote passes. Her remarks also reveal her complacent attitude that the current crisis in the government should be blamed on the opposition parties’ obstinacy.

Before the meeting of Saenuri Party lawmakers that was scheduled for 2 pm on Dec. 6, Park called Saenuri Party leader Lee Jung-hyun and floor leader Chung Jin-suk to the Blue House for a meeting that lasted 55 minutes. Chung said that he was contacted by the Blue House around 1:15 pm, while he was eating lunch.

After the non-Park wing of the Saenuri Party announced that they would support the motion for impeachment unless Park personally announced when she would step down, Park had planned to explain herself through a meeting with non-Park Saenuri Party lawmakers, a statement to the public and a meeting with the leaders of the Saenuri Party. But after the non-Park wing of the party responded to the 2.32 million protestors who took to the streets on Dec. 3 by declaring that they would vote to impeach Park regardless of when she promised to resign, Park appears to have decided to meet with the Saenuri Party leaders as a last resort.

Park’s plan, it turns out, was to instruct the Saenuri Party leaders to erode as much support for impeachment as possible. The fact that she met with the Saenuri Party leaders instead of making a fourth public statement shows that she has given up on public opinion and the opposition parties and that she means to focus on sowing dissension inside the Saenuri Party.

While Park acknowledged a keen sense of responsibility for the chaos in the government that has resulted from this crisis during her meeting with Lee and Chung, she placed all the blame for that chaos on the opposition parties. According to Chung, Park explained the series of events as follows: she agreed to meet with party leaders and tried to talk to the opposition parties, but these meetings basically did not occur; she visited the National Assembly and met with the speaker to propose that the National Assembly nominate a prime minister, but the opposition parties rejected that; she accepted a proposal for dialogue with Minjoo Party leader Choo Mi-ae, but that plan fell through. Park reportedly did not mention the fact that the crisis was brought to this point by her insistence on remaining in control of the government. She ignored the opposition party’s demands to assume a secondary role in the government, and she also rejected a proposal for the National Assembly to nominate a prime minister on the condition that she would resign.

Park also said she had been desperate to resolve the crisis in the government since nothing she did was working and that she had expressed her views through subsequent public statements. Park also noted that she had promised to abide by the decision of the National Assembly and that she would accordingly hand over power and step down peacefully and in line with laws and procedures.

Park said that the National Assembly has passed the buck to her even though she asked the National Assembly to choose her course of action. At the same time, she ignored the fact that she has constantly adjusted her position according to the reaction from politicians and public opinion.

In seeming recognition of the increasing likelihood of her impeachment, Park said that she would accept the motion for impeachment if it passed and “make every available effort.” She also asked the Saenuri Party to work with her in consideration of her stance. These remarks make clear that, even if the impeachment motion passes, she does not intend to step down until the motion has been reviewed by the Constitutional Court. Park was essentially blackmailing Saenuri Party lawmakers to think twice before impeaching her, since she will keep up the fight as long as she can.

Her request for the Saenuri Party’s cooperation appears to be a request for the Saenuri Party to shield her from demands from the opposition parties to step down immediately after impeachment. Chung told Saenuri Party lawmakers after his meeting with Park that “the opposition parties’ plans to keep pushing for Park to step down [after impeaching her] go completely against the spirit of the constitution.”

When Lee and Chung told Park that the proposal for her to step down in April and for the next presidential election to be held in June was no longer an option and that the Saenuri Party would have no choice but to let lawmakers vote with their conscience on the motion of impeachment on Dec. 9, Park nodded her head to indicate that she understood, Chung said.

after his meeting with President Park Geun-hye at the Blue House

By Choi Hye-jung, staff reporter

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