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| Prosecutor General Chae Dong-wook |
President Park Geun-hye faces a test, perhaps the toughest so far in her presidency, in dealing with top prosecutor Chae Dong-wook's resignation.
Unless dealt with adroitly, President Park may see a dramatic turn in public opinion against her, lose her initiative over the opposition and eventually suffer from a setback in her political agenda, something close to a candlelit vigil for her predecessor Lee Myung-bak.
Of course, her public relations team is better than that of President Lee's, announcing that Chae's resignation was not accepted and any action on the prosecutor general would come after the truth is uncovered. It remains to be seen whether the crisis management operation will prove to be successful.
Chae quit Friday after the Justice Ministry unilaterally told reporters that Chae would be investigated by an independent party over allegations that he fathered an 11-year-old son with his paramour.
The top prosecutor denied the allegations published by the Chosun Ilbo, and vowed legal actions against the daily and promised take a DNA test to prove his claim.
Rumors and reports abounded that Cheong Wa Dae had applied pressure on Chae to step down over the reports. Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn also told Chae that he would be subject to a probe. Such a probe would be unprecedented.
By some indications, the damage has already been done.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has turned up the pressure on Cheong Wa Dae, with its leader Kim Han-gil vowing to include Chae as an issue he will raise when he meets President Park today.
Kim and the DP are often outsmarted by the ruling Saenuri Party, never having been able to take any initiative in partisan affairs. Park has ignored Kim's repeated calls for a summit and left the opposition leader looking hapless.
"It is the start of a new reign of terror," Kim said in a press conference at his makeshift headquarters in downtown Seoul.
Rank-and-file prosecutors are also showing signs of organizing themselves, obviously fearing that it is an attempt to have them at their beck and call. Prosecutors are often called "maidens of power" for their history of being used as tools by those in power to suppress political opponents.
A key lieutenant of Chae also resigned in protest.
There is no way of telling whether the prosecutors' protest will spread.
Also, there were rumors that Cheong Wa Dae didn't favor Chae.
In June, the prosecution indicted Won Sei-hoon, a former chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), and Seoul police chief Kim Yong-pan for violating the Election Law after its investigation of the NIS's meddling in the Dec. 19 presidential election. The two had allegedly mobilized NIS agents to post critical rumors on the Internet to discredit Rep. Mon Jae-in, then DP's presidential candidate.
President Park won the election.
Chae also won public confidence with the in depth investigation into the family of disgraced former President Chun Doo-hwan to collect Chun's unpaid 167.2 billion won ($154 million) fine. The family recently made a public pledge that they will pay off the fine.
The opposition says there is little possibility that Hwang alone made the decision without prior consultation with the presidential office to conduct an internal investigation of Chae, because such an order was construed as a direct coercion for his voluntary resignation.
Bae Jong-chan, a director at the department of social research at Research & Research, said it is understandable that Cheong Wa Dae and the NIS are suspected of being behind the removal of Chae as the timing of revelation is correlated with other relevant issues.
"Why the conservative daily is now making the report public although they probably had the information involving Chae's illegitimate son for a while is liable to lead to many doubts, as the NIS and Cheong Wa Dae were put in a defensive corner following the prosecution's investigation into the NIS election meddling scandal," said Bae.
He added Cheong Wa Dae's silence tends to worsen the situation.
"If it was not involved in the resignation of the top prosecutor, it needs to offer a clear explanation to settle the controversy, otherwise the Park government could be in danger as such silence could lead to the conclusion that she does not intend to communicate with the public," Bae said.
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