By Kang Seung-woo
Despite her ambitious hopes to create a “second Middle East boom,” President Park Geun-hye’s trip to four Middle Eastern nations is taking a backseat to consecutive yet serious domestic issues.
Although Park has held summits with leaders of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, landing future economic cooperation with them, high-profile incidents this week have diverted the people’s attention, turning her overseas trip into little more than a footnote. Now, Park is on a visit to Qatar, her last stop before returning home Monday.
“With more important issues, including the attack of U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert, I am less interested in learning about the progress of President Park's visit to the Middle East,” said Kim Ha-won, 42, a public relations director.
U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman’s controversial remarks Saturday, that were interpreted here as the United States condoning Japan’s wartime misdeeds, suggested the President’s trip might fade into the background even before it started Sunday.
In addition, as the ruling and opposition parties joined the bashing of Sherman’s remarks, the issue hit the headlines early this week.
The National Assembly then passed a long-disputed anti-corruption bill Tuesday, which is aimed at regulating graft among government officials.
However, the bill faces growing calls for changes as some legal experts, journalists and private school teachers, who are subjects of the bill, claim it is unconstitutional, triggering ceaseless rows over the proposal.
And the public indifference to the presidential trip reached a fever pitch Thursday, when the slashing of the U.S. ambassador’s face and arm by a xenophobic activist in central Seoul grabbed international headlines.
On the same day, Park held a summit with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and agreed to economically deepen cooperation with the wealthy Gulf state; but this drew little attention.
Even, President Park called Lippert and extended her consolation to him over the assault, vowing to closely cooperate with the U.S. to ensure the incident does not hurt Korea-U.S. relations.
President Park has often seen her overseas trips overshadowed by domestic issues since her inauguration in February 2013.
In June, 2013, Nam Jae-joon, former director of the National Intelligence Service, illegally leaked a classified transcript of the 2007 inter-Korean summit, when she was about to visit China.
In June, then Prime Minister-designate Moon Chang-keuk was at the center of controversy for his alleged pro-Japanese views during her trip to Central Asia. Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung was then also placed in the public eye for his remarks about a possible constitutional revision, while the President was attending the Asia-Europe Meeting in Italy in October.
“Despite her achievements in business diplomacy, the attack on the U.S. ambassador will adversely affect President Park in her management of state affairs, given that national security, including the Korea-U.S. alliance, is the most important issue to the Korean people,” said Bae Jong-chan, a director at political pollster Research and Research.
“The assault can be interpreted as Seoul’s negligence on solidifying the alliance with Washington.“