By Kang Seung-woo
The presidential office is easing a tacit ban on its staffers playing golf.
According to Cheong Wa Dae officials on Sunday, Chief of Staff Huh Tae-yeol said at a recent chief secretary meeting that those who want to play rounds of golf during their vacations can do so at their own expense.
The provisional permission comes after President Park Geun-hye said she was considering ways to boost the local golf industry at a meeting with chief editorial writers from major press firms earlier this month.
Korea Communications Commission Chairman Lee Kyeong-jae also asked President Park to give the nod for public officials to play golf in a Cabinet meeting last month, as part of creating jobs and boosting consumption.
Although the Park administration has not officially forbidden its staff from playing golf, a series of issues relating to North Korea has prevented them from enjoying the sport.
In addition, golf outings by the military brass just days ahead of the annual Key Resolve Exercise with the United States military in March caused a public uproar, after which the presidential office launched an immediate inquiry and the Ministry of National Defense and each branch of the military reviewed a list of senior officers who played golf.
When it comes to the Scottish ball game, Park appears to be following in her predecessors footsteps.
Five years ago, when former President Lee Myung-bak, a renowned tennis aficionado, took office, officials were in no mood to tee-off because of Lee’s negative attitude toward golf as a sport.
At a luncheon meeting with reporters in May 2009, he said green fees are too expensive and that it takes up too much time, as well as not being a good form of exercise.
But later Lee attempted to encourage his staff to play the sport, but none ventured onto the fairways.
It was former President Kim Young-sam who forbade government officials to play golf because the nation’s first civilian state leader tried to distinguish himself from the previous military regimes, but his successors Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun were mostly generous toward the sport except for a few attempts to establish discipline of officials.