Public sentiment against Park worsens after reshuffle

By Jun Ji-hye

President Park Geun-hye’s surprise Cabinet reshuffle, Wednesday, amid the ever expanding Choi Soon-sil scandal added fuel to public calls for her to step down, a local polling agency revealed Thursday.

A Realmeter survey conducted Wednesday showed that 55.3 percent of respondents said Park should resign, and if not, the National Assembly should push for her impeachment. The number was up 13 percentage points from last week’s 42.3 percent.

The latest survey was conducted after Park unexpectedly nominated Kim Byong-joon, a former close aide to the late President Roh Moo-hyun, as prime minister to replace Hwang Kyo-ahn.

The embattled President had already appointed two new senior secretaries for civil affairs and public relations, Sunday, as calls for a sweeping personnel reshuffle of both her Cabinet and secretariat increased.

However, Park’s ability to lead state affairs has been thrown into doubt, while her long-time confidant Choi is facing arrest over allegations that she interfered in state affairs and illegally profited using her relationship with the President. Investigators filed for a warrant to detain Choi Wednesday and a court is reviewing this.

In the survey, 20.2 percent supported Park leaving the ruling Saenuri Party and cing most of her power to a prime minister recommended through a bipartisan agreement. The rival parties have been discussing this at the National Assembly as a means to resolve the national crisis caused by the Choi scandal.

Only 15.5 percent of respondents said the prime minister nominee tapped by Park should work to overcome the crisis.

“Park’s nomination of a new prime minister failed to earn much support apparently because of criticism from both conservative and liberal media over the unexpected, unilateral decision that did not involve consultation with the opposition parties,” said Realmeter CEO Lee Taek-soo.

The opposition parties claimed that Park’s unilateral cabinet reshuffle amounted to a virtual rejection of the Assembly’s ongoing discussions about a bipartisan Cabinet.

Members from the governing party also criticized Park’s continuous unilateral behavior, saying she should have sought prior consent from the parties before replacing the prime minister.

“By unilaterally tapping Kim, Park gave the opposition parties the ammunition to call for her resignation,” said Rep. Choung Byoung-gug from the ruling party. “The fundamental issue in the Choi Soon-sil scandal is that decisions related to state affairs were discussed in unofficial channels. It is not too late for Park to invite the leaders of the rival parties to Cheong Wa Dae and explain her decision about the nomination of a prime minister.”

Choung added that if the President fails to earn the parties’ agreement, she should withdraw the nomination.

Among three opposition parties, only the minor opposition Justice Party is openly calling for Park’s resignation or impeachment.

The main opposition Democratic Party of Korea and the second largest opposition People’s Party have so far refrained from mentioning the issue openly, apparently wary of any unexpected backlash.

But sources noted that some hard-line members from the parties are starting to call for resignation or impeachment, which raises the likelihood that the two could also follow the Justice Party’s line.