Obama and Park Geun-hye

By Tong Kim

Last Saturday U.S. President Obama was upbeat after he scored three political gains: passage of the Trade Promotion Authority, and Supreme Court decisions on the affordable care act and same sex marriage. Obama’s approval rate went up above 50 percent.

Obama’s powerful healing eulogy for nine slain black church members in Charlestown, South Carolina was also well received across the country, as he ended by leading those assembled in singing “Amazing Grace.”

Last week the Republican Congress, despite opposition by some Democrats, was able to pass the Trade Promotion Act, which will give him the authority to expedite Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations with Japan and 11 other trading partners to initiate a multilateral trade agreement of the highest standard that the world has not seen. TPP is a centerpiece of Obama’s design for rebalances in Asia.

Before the passage of the important trade bill, many political analysts had predicted President Obama without trade promotion authority would fail in TPP. Success or failure of the Asian rebalances heavily depends on the TPP that augment military readjustment and diplomatic effort to build a new sustainable balance of power in the rapidly changing environment in the Asia Pacific.

As America celebrates another Fourth of July Independence Day, one can reflect that over the years the attitude of more than a half of the American people has changed from condemnation on homosexuals to acceptance of same sex marriage. No major politicians condemned the Supreme Court’s controversial decision, which was split 5 to 4.

President Obama welcomed the final court ruling on same sex marriage by lighting the White House in rainbow colors. However, there is strong reaction of dissent from the religious community, which does not accept the redefining of marriage. It is too much of a change for America, with over 80 percent of its population saying they are Christians.

Even with an African-American president at the White House, race is still an issue. The killing of nine black church members by a racially motivated white man ironically has put an end to the flying of the Confederate flag at the state capital of South Carolina. The flag was under attack because it became a symbol for white men’s disregard for black Americans. On foreign policy, Obama’s first priority is to make a deal with Iran to block pathways for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. The deadline for negotiation has been extended by another week. If a deal is made, it will also go down as a legacy of the Obama administration, although Obama will leave the North Korean nuclear issue unfinished to his successor.

In contrast, President Park Geun-hye is deeply embroiled in an internal struggle with Yoo Seong-min, the floor leader of her own Saenuri Party, over the legislature’s passage of a law that could interfere with the administration’s prerogatives to write and implement decrees and regulations for laws passed by the National Assembly.

Park vetoed the bill on the ground of potential violations of the Constitution that separate the powers of the administration and the legislature. She strongly reprimanded the floor leader for “political betrayal,” and virtually demanded Yoo’s resignation.

The ruling party is divided between so-called “pro-Park” members and “non-pro-Park” members. Yoo officially apologized to Park, but she did not take it seriously.

Even the major conservative newspapers that are normally supportive of President Park criticize her for having started an unnecessary internal bickering over an issue about which the ordinary people do not really care. Park has long been accused of not listening to different views and it seems that her assistants including cabinet ministers do not dare to disagree with her.

Park’s misfortune came with the Sewol ferryboat tragedy that took hundreds of lives. She was blamed for the government’s ineptitude to rescue the passengers before the ferry sank. Consequently, a special law was adopted to investigate the immediate and root causes of the incident.

And before the aftermath of the Sewol was settled, South Korea was hit hard by the Middle East Respiratory System (MERS) epidemic, which claimed 35 people by last week. More than 15,000 people were quarantined for possible further spread of the pandemic disease previously unknown to Koreans.

Park’s foreign policy has gained no real success yet other than her summit performances with foreign leaders. There is no progress in inter-Korean relations, no progress on the nuclear issue. Improvement of Seoul’s relationship with Japan is still at issue. She does not seem to have a clear policy on differences between Washington and Beijing.

Due to the MERS emergency, she postponed her trip to the United States originally planned for June to an earliest possible future date convenient to both countries. The postponement did not affect the bilateral relationship or suffered any loss.

Approval of Park’s performance plunged to around 30 percent. By the next time, she meets with Obama, her approval rating will hopefully have improved at home. If she earns domestic support, she will be treated with more respect by foreign leaders.

Park’s ratings went down due to unfortunate man-made disasters and her hardened attitude of no compromise on political issues. Obama’s went up by the court rulings and the congressional approval of a trade-negotiating tool for TPP. There will be more surprises before their terms are up. What’s your take?

Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies.