Two heavyweights agree to oust Park
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, right, founder of the second-largest opposition People’s Party, and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon hold a meeting at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap
By Kim Hyo-jin
Two potential liberal presidential candidates ― People’s Party Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo and Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon ― agreed to work together, Wednesday, to oust the scandal-ridden President Park Geun-hye.
The agreement came one day after President Park asked the opposition-controlled National Assembly to recommend a candidate for prime minister, saying she will hand over the reins of the Cabinet to the prime minister.
Ahn and Mayor Park protested her proposal, both calling it an “attempt to evade accountability” and an “ill-fitted measure in clearing up confusion.”
Criticizing Park for playing “tricks” one after another to hold onto power, the opposition heavyweights said they will join forces to force Park out if she keeps refusing to step down.
“It is not right for a new prime minister, a non-elected figure, to control the administration for the entire 14 months ― the remainder of Park’s presidential term,” Ahn told reporters after his meeting with Mayor Park.
“It will just put us into a bigger crisis. The fastest way of coping with this quandary is taking Park down and putting up a new leader.”
Agreeing with Ahn, Mayor Park stressed, “This is the public’s call and politicians are obliged to put it into action.”
Ahn and Mayor Park also agreed to arrange an emergency gathering of political leaders to discuss how to manage the national crisis triggered by the corruption scandal involving Park and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
“Ahn suggested at first that we gather figures from across the political spectrum but in the end he saw eye to eye with me to do so gradually and join forces among opposition leaders first considering the people’s negative sentiment towards the ruling bloc,” the mayor said.
President Park has been under pressure to resign following a myriad of allegations that her friend Choi meddled in state affairs, despite not having an official government position, and exploited her ties with the President to set up nonprofit organizations and misappropriate funds from them.
Ahn and Park, both major potential presidential candidates in the opposition bloc, have raised stronger voices for her resignation in the wake of the scandal.
Regardless of their intentions, their move is expected to hold in check Moon Jae-in, a frontrunner among opposition potential candidates, pundits say.
Moon, the former leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), has remained reluctant to call for Park’s resignation in line with the cautious stance of DPK leadership.