Cheong Wa Dae announced a cabinet reshuffle in which three ministers were replaced Tuesday, but President Park Geun-hye’s decision to retain some disputed figures in her cabinet and at the presidential office triggered criticism about her judgment.
The main purpose of a cabinet reshuffle in the waning period of a presidential term is to provide fresh momentum for key policy goals by hiring new faces with relevant expertise. The President’s latest reshuffle failed on this crucial objective. She named Cho Yun-sun, a former minister of gender equality, as culture minister and Cho Kyeung-kyu, a career economic official, as environment minister. Neither seems to have sufficient expertise or experience to serve properly in their new posts and invigorate the ministries with new ideas. Her decision to retain Woo Byung-woo, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, is also problematic since he has been mired in a corruption scandal.
The most incomprehensible aspect of the reshuffle is that Park has not replaced her foreign minister. This defies the dominant public view that it is high time to bring in some change to the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been criticized for grave diplomatic missteps.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is the only cabinet member that has been with the President since the beginning of her term in 2013. It is hard to understand why he has been able to keep his post for such an extended period given the ministry’s glaring failures, such as managing relations with China and Japan.
In just a year, Korea-China relations have gone from best to worst. The foreign ministry had trumpeted Korea-China relations as closer than ever since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1992, particularly after Park’s visit to Beijing for war commemorations last year at the risk of unsettling Washington. Now, Korea and China are at odds over Seoul’s decision to allow the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system. The Chinese government and media have lodged intense complaints over the U.S. Army’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system being deployed here.
Beijing’s protest is an encroachment on internal affairs and an excessive interference in our security decision-making process. But the foreign ministry has neither properly delivered this position to Beijing nor succeeded in gaining China’s understanding about the THAAD deployment as a means to protect our security interests.
There have been serious problems with the way Minister Yun has handled relations with Japan. The Korea-Japan deal on the issue of the so-called comfort women is unacceptable from the point of view of the victims of wartime sexual slavery by the Japanese army and many Korean citizens.
A foundation for the victims has been established and will be operated with Japan’s financial assistance as a result of the verbal bilateral agreement. The foreign ministry has explained that Japan’s funding is “virtual compensation,” but this is completely against Tokyo’s position that the pledged 1 billion yen ($9.9 million) fund is for “healing.” The foreign ministry should explain why there is such a huge discrepancy between the two governments’ definitions of the fund. The ministry should clear up misunderstandings with Tokyo regarding the future implementation of the agreement and stop misleading the victims and the people with wrong information. The foreign ministry also failed to promote Korea’s position on other historical issues with Japan, such as the row over the sovereignty over Dokdo or Japan’s listing of wartime sites on the UNESCO heritage list.
Park’s diplomacy has achieved little visible success largely due to lethargic leadership and the incompetence of the foreign ministry. It is long overdue for Park to have a new foreign minister who has the capacity to advance Korea’s diplomatic and security interests.