President driven into deeper crisis

Cheong Wa Dae defensive line shows signs of crumbling

By Jun Ji-hye

Embattled President Park Geun-hye is being driven into a corner, losing her top lieutenants who were helping to defend her against a mounting impeachment offensive from the opposition after Justice Minister Kim Hyun-woong and her senior secretary for civil affairs Choi Jai-kyeong tendered their resignations.

Their offers to resign were seen as an apparent sign of a split among Park’s staff as well as the Cabinet after, through her legal representative, she refused to be questioned by the prosecution, which had implicated the President as an accomplice in charges filed against her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil.

Choi was indicted for allegedly interfering in various state affairs and extorting local conglomerates to accumulate her own wealth.

The two senior officials’ possible absence means there will be no proper aides to assist the President in law enforcement affairs, while the prosecution is strengthening its probe into the scandal, and an independent counsel investigation prompted by the opposition parties is expected to begin next month. A National Assembly audit is also scheduled to begin, Nov. 30.

Park has not yet accepted their resignations.

Additionally, Rep. Kim Moo-sung, a former chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, announced Wednesday that he will take the lead in seeking the impeachment of the President, creating a stir in the governing party that has been a shoulder for Park to lean on.

To sum up, three support beams for the President — the presidential office, the ruling party and the government — are all teetering on the edge of the massive political scandal.

For their part, citizens from all over the country are scheduled to gather in central Seoul, Saturday, to stage a fifth candlelit rally to call for Park’s resignation.

Since the outbreak of the scandal the President has remained low-key.

Experts said the interim result of the prosecution’s investigation, announced Sunday, might have gone against Park’s expectations as it named her as an accomplice in the scandal. This, they said, apparently caused the agitation in the presidential office.

They added that Park’s response to the prosecution’s probe and her criticism of it as a whole also might have been against the expectations of her aides.

“I think the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs did not expect the President to criticize the prosecution for its investigation,” Choi Chang-ryul, a professor of political science at Yongin University, said during his appearance on an SBS news program. “It might have been too hard for him to stay in his post.”

The secretary was a former prosecutor himself, having served as chief of the Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office. He received an appointment certificate for the senior presidential secretary only on Nov. 18.

Experts note that Park’s isolation could be further deepened as the prosecution keeps asking her to cooperate in face-to-face questioning, Nov. 28 or 29.

Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk avoided a direct answer on this, only saying, “Park’s lawyer will answer that question.”

Apparently mindful of the deepening crisis, the spokesman also denied speculation that the senior presidential secretary and the justice minister offered to resign due to a conflict with President Park.

“The pair offered to resign as they felt a moral responsibility with regards to the prosecutorial probe into the scandal,” he said.

Another Cheong Wa Dae official said on condition of anonymity that Park might turn down their resignations, saying that it was inappropriate for two officials in charge of legal affairs to leave their posts ahead of a planned independent counsel’s probe.

The spokesman also renewed calls for media prudence, arguing that there were many erroneous reports on Cheong Wa Dae’s purchase of medicine.

A local media outlet reported that in June 2014, Cheong Wa Dae purchased EMLA Cream 5%, a local anesthetic used to numb the skin surface before certain medical procedures.

The report came amid rumors that the President underwent plastic surgery during the April 16, 2014, Sewol ferry disaster that claimed the lives of 304 passengers.

“When there is a cut on your skin, you can apply it to anesthetize the area,” Jung said, dismissing speculation that the ointment was purchased for cosmetic surgery procedures.