hankyoreh

is brought into Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho district for questioning on Nov. 3. (pool photo)

South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s still has an “abnormal spirit,” to borrow one of her odd phrases. If she had the slightest regret for having brought the country into this crisis by falling for the tricks of her confidante Choi Sun-sil, she would not have come up with such a political solution. As if it were not enough to drop a nuclear bomb on the government with a cabinet reshuffle that goes against the public will, just one day later, she betrayed the people once again by nominating a Blue House chief of staff and senior secretary for political affairs. Once again, she made those nominations unilaterally, without discussing them with the opposition parties or even the ruling Saenuri Party.

The strategy that Park has concocted for the current situation is not common-sense politics but rather petty trickery and scheming. The very fact that Park believes she can dupe the public by “recycling” figures from the administrations of former presidents Kim Dae-jung (1998-2003) and Roh Moo-hyun (2003-2008) is an insult to the South Korean people.

Park tapped Han Gwang-ok, chairman of the Presidential Committee for National Cohesion, to be the Blue House Chief of Staff. Perhaps the position that Han was given in exchange for swapping sides during the last presidential election has been personally satisfying, but he hasn’t done anything for national cohesion. It’s unlikely that anyone would regard Han as being an heir to the spirit of the Kim Dae-jung administration or a spokesperson for the sentiment of the Honam region in the southwest part of the country.

One big question is who is advising Park as she continues her political roller coaster ride. Not only has Park parted ways with Choi Sun-sil and the “doorknob triumvirate,” who had been the behind-the-scenes decision makers, but the official political and appointment structure at the Blue House has completely collapsed as well. Even Senior Secretary for Personnel Affairs Jung Jin-cheol said that Park notified him after the fact about her nomination of Kookmin University Professor Kim Byong-joon as prime minister.

Ultimately, the only explanation is that a new secret group has formed behind Park and is pulling the strings. It’s impossible to know if the new team in the shadows is led by former Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon or someone else. What is clear is that these figures are still leading Park in the wrong direction.

As South Koreans watch Park take steps that are at odds with public sentiment, they are asking the basic question of whether Park is even aware of the gravity of the situation. The answer to that question can only be no. It seems obvious that Park is completely ignoring the newspapers and TV news. Even at ordinary times, Park shied away from stories that were critical of her. There is no chance that she would even glance at newspapers and the TV news today, which are inundated with denunciations of her. In the end, Park appears to be still making the wrong decisions in her fortress of solitude, far removed from public sentiment.

Park’s approval rating has finally fallen below 9%. That means that Park has already entered a catatonic state where she is unable to fulfill her duties as president. But to make matters worse, she continues to take actions that fan the flames of public anger. The opposition parties have also begun to call on Park to step down, a call that they had previously refrained from making.

Park may be brain dead, but there is a respirator that could keep her breathing: making an apology and a candid confession of her relationship with Choi Sun-sil and asking the prosecutors to carry out a criminal investigation of her. But Park has ripped off her respirator and is lurching toward disaster. This is a true shame, both for Park and for the country.

Choi Sun-sil

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