Park Geun-hye testing public patience

By Jun Ji-hye

Impeached President Park Geun-hye is apparently taking all possible measures, including threats, blackmail and even tricks to obstruct the independent counsel’s probe into her corruption scandal and delay her ongoing impeachment trial.

Critics say Park is deliberately causing conflict and controversy to strengthen the solidity of her own supporters, while clouding the issue of the high-profile political scandal that led to her impeachment by the National Assembly in December.

They say she is just trying to avoid receiving criminal punishment and to keep her post as long as possible rather than taking responsibility for the scandal in which her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and former presidential aides have been arrested.

On Wednesday, Park rejected face-to-face questioning that the probe team, led by independent counsel Park Young-soo, planned to carry out Thursday, citing some “peculiar reasons.”

The presidential office blamed the probe team for leaking the schedule and location to media ― local media outlets reported Tuesday that Cheong Wa Dae and the probe team had agreed to hold the interview at the presidential compound Thursday.

While coordinating the details of the questioning, the presidential office imposed a preposterous condition of “non-disclosure of the schedule and the place” although the law stipulates that special prosecutors can brief the media on the progress of their investigation to satisfy the people’s right to know. Nevertheless, the investigators accepted the condition as they had to question Park in some way or other, considering her history of rejecting prosecutors’ questioning several times last year, breaking her promises made to the public.

After the details were reported in the media, Cheong Wa Dae lashed out at the special probe team, unilaterally concluding that the team leaked the information. The team denied it leaked the schedule.

Some critics even speculated that Cheong Wa Dae’s argument about the team’s information leak could have been a self-fabricated scenario, which is in line with its tactic to delay Park’s impeachment process.

Such a tactic has been detected as the Constitutional Court is moving to make the ruling before March 13 when the tenure of one of the remaining eight justices, Lee Jung-mi, ends. The court's former President Park Han-chul, who left office on Jan. 31, said the final ruling should be made before acting court President Lee’s term expires.

In an apparent effort to delay the impeachment trial process, Park and her legal representatives recently asked the court to summon 17 more witnesses. Among them, the court chose eight witnesses and set a schedule for questioning them, reducing the likelihood that the court will make a decision in February at the earliest.

In a 13-page written statement submitted to the court, Park also maintained an irresponsible attitude, only saying, “I did not know,” or “I did not give such orders.”

On Jan. 25, Park called the massive corruption scandal a “huge mountain heaped up with lies” in an interview with a conservative online journalist.

What she is doing is going against her previous promises made in her nationally televised addresses last year. Offering an apology for the scandal at the time, Park said that she was willing to sincerely cooperate in the investigations by prosecutors and the independent counsel, and that she was willing to comply with the Assembly’s decision on her fate.

“Park should recognize clearly that the nation is crumbling because of her,” former conservative lawmaker Lee Jae-oh said. “If she has any conscience, she should resign voluntarily tomorrow.”

Amid growing tension that Park’s impeachment could be thwarted or delayed considerably, the opposition parties also renewed their call for her prompt ouster.

Gyeonggi Province Governor Nam Kyung-pil of the newly formed Bareun Party said Thursday, “I am angry seeing Park continually running away. This is clearly shameful. This is not what a president of the Republic of Korea does.”

The opposition parties also urged acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn to approve the extension of the investigation if the probe team asks him to do so.

The initial probe mandate of the independent counsel is due to expire Feb. 28. The period can be extended once by a month with the consent of Hwang.

Meanwhile, Cheong Wa Dae dismissed speculation that Park would boycott the corruption probe, saying she will undergo direct questioning soon “when trust is restored in the special prosecutors.”