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| President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun ahead of their talks at the latter's office, Tuesday. Park, facing her worst leadership crisis, indicated that she will hand over control of the Cabinet to a prime minister recommended by the National Assembly. / Korea Times photo by Ko Young-kwon |
Opposition parties cautious about accepting proposal
By Kang Seung-woo
President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday that she will appoint a prime minister recommended by the National Assembly, dropping her previous nomination of Kim Byong-joon for the post.
In addition, she made it clear that the new prime minister will be empowered to lead the Cabinet, implying that she will share power with him or her in governing the nation.
She made these proposals during a meeting with Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun.
Designating a "neutral" prime minister is one of the key demands from the opposition parties, but they postponed a decision on whether to accept the President's offer. Some hard-line lawmakers claimed that Park was just trying to avoid responsibility for the Choi Soon-sil scandal.
Later in the day, Chung convened a meeting with floor leaders of the three major parties to discuss Park's proposal, but the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) and the second-largest People's Party were cautious about accepting it, saying they would first gather opinions from their party members.
On Wednesday, the leaders of the three opposition parties, including the minor opposition Justice Party, will hold a meeting to discuss Park's proposal.
"In order to normalize state affairs as well as fulfill the duty of the President, I came to meet with you," Park told Chung during the 13-minute dialogue.
"If the National Assembly jointly proposes a new nominee, I will nominate the person for prime minister."
When entering and leaving the Assembly, Park had to encounter some opposition lawmakers who were calling for her resignation.
After Park's "unilateral" nomination of Kim, a former aide to the liberal Roh Moo-hyun administration, last week to ease growing public anger over the influence-peddling scandal involving her confidant Choi, she faced a violent backlash from the opposition bloc claiming that the Assembly should have taken part in the decision-making process amid discussions about forming a bipartisan Cabinet. In addition, they decided to boycott the confirmation hearing for Kim, who needs Assembly approval before taking office.
The opposition also insists that Park, losing her grip on state affairs due to the scandal, distance herself from domestic affairs and transfer her presidential authority to a new prime minister, recommended by parliament and the President agreed to do so.
"If a new prime minister takes office, I will fully guarantee the authority to take charge of the Cabinet in a practical manner," Park said.
The Assembly speaker advised the President to clear the ground for a new prime minister to take over the authority that she promised.
"When a new prime minster takes office, the President should clearly delegate the authority to the premier in order to prevent disputes over the issue from re-emerging in the future," Chung said.
Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk said Park's visit showed her strong decision to delegate her authority to an Assembly-proposed prime minister to get the scandal-rocked administration back on track.
In the wake of the scandal, in which Choi had significantly meddled in state affairs to benefit her private interests, Park has been losing public confidence, with her approval rating dipping to an all time low of 5 percent, Friday.
During the meeting between the speaker and the floor leaders, the opposition remained cautious about the proposal.
"The opposition floor leaders said they would explain it to their respective leaderships and report to their general meetings before deciding on their positions," said floor leader Chung Jin-suk of the ruling Saeuri Party after the meeting.
"The Democratic Party of Korea questioned if President Park will hand over the authority to appoint Cabinet members and the speaker said he would confirm it from the President."
Floor leader Park Jie-won of the People's Party said, "Nothing was decided during the floor leaders' meeting because the President failed to go into detail about the transfer of her authority; rather, we agreed to hold a meeting between three opposition parties on Wednesday."
Cheong Wa Dae hinted at withdrawing the Kim nomination, Monday, amid growing protests from the people as well as the opposition.
During his visit to the Assembly to arrange a meeting between Park and rival party leaders, proposed in Friday's national address, presidential chief of staff Han Gwang-ok said the nomination issue can be discussed at the meeting. In addition, Han admitted that there were procedural problems in the nomination.
According to a recent public poll, 45 percent of Koreans said the President should withdraw the nomination, compared with 21 percent who supported the selection.
Meanwhile, the presidential office said it will discuss with the Assembly whether to maintain the nomination of Yim Jong-yong for deputy prime minister and finance minister and Park Seung-joon for public safety minister, both of whom were appointed with Kim, last Wednesday.
"As administrative procedures for their confirmation hearings have yet to begin, we will hold discussions about them with the Assembly," said an official.
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