President Park Geun-hye apologized Monday over an allegation of sexual harassment made against her spokesman during a visit to the United States last week. She was right to offer an apology because of the shock that the female student and her parents must have experienced and the scars left on the hearts of overseas compatriots, given the seriousness of the "unsavory’’ incident that led to the dismissal of her spokesman, Yoon Chang-jung.
This is the first time that the nation’s first female leader has apologized in person at an official meeting though she twice offered apologies over the bungled appointments of Cabinet ministers and presidential aides. It’s quite regrettable that the new administration is failing to break the jinx on presidential apologies that haunted previous governments during the early stages of their tenure. Park’s immediate predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, offered an apology to the nation over the public furor associated with imports of American beef. Roh Moo-hyun also had to apologize after the eruption of an investment scandal involving his aides.
President Park’s promise to make every truth revealed "without a single speck of suspicion’’ is a matter of course and we expect the government to take whatever measures are necessary and cooperate actively with the U.S. investigation.
In fact, the claims against Yoon, a former journalist, are clear ― he allegedly grabbed the buttocks of an intern in her early 20s while drinking with her at a Washington bar and fled back to Seoul after a complaint of sexual harassment was made against him, in the middle of the presidential visit.
In retrospect, Lee Nam-ki, Yoon’s immediate supervisor, should have let Yoon undergo police questioning in Washington when the sexual abuse allegation was first raised. That would have been the right choice, but Lee aroused suspicions of helping Yoon evade police investigation by letting him return. It also goes against common sense that the chief executive was informed of the case more than one day after the unprecedented incident erupted, given its gravity. All these fiascos must have stemmed from the lack of a crisis management system at the presidential office.
It’s a pity that people have to see presidential aides engage in the truth game at a time when the chief executive should set in motion state affairs on a full-blown scale after her first overseas trip since taking office in February. It’s also shameful that Pyongyang derided Seoul, citing the sex scandal.
As the President said, the latest incident should serve as an occasion to tighten discipline in officialdom, including the presidential office. Those responsible for the fiascos must be reprimanded harshly and there should be proper measures to prevent similar incidents. Hopefully, there will be no more presidential apologies because of personal misconduct or policy failures.