President stumbles on 'Choi Soon-sil gate'
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President Park Geun-hye attends a meeting with her senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. / Joint press corps
President’s approval dips below 30 percent for two weeks in row
Choi Soon-sil
By Kang Seung-woo
Snowballing influence-peddling allegations against her long-time confidant Choi Soon-sil are pushing President Park Geun-hye to the brink of a lame-duck period.
With just 16 months of her term in office remaining, the nation-sweeping scandal is preventing her from strengthening her grip on state affairs, including structural reforms in four major sectors.
In addition, the Park government’s signature “creative economy” policy is also falling through as it is suspected of being exploited by the confidant.
Choi, the daughter of President Park’s late mentor, is regarded as a secretive heavyweight who holds great influence over Park as well as her administration. Choi has been caught up in allegations that she was behind suspicious fundraising activities involving the K-Sports and Mir foundations. They raised about 80 billion won ($71.2 million) from the nation’s major firms in a just a few months.
Opposition parties claim that the presidential office “twisted the arms of conglomerates” to fund the two non-profit organizations, while some of the money went to paper companies established by Choi.
To make Park’s situation worse, Choi’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, is also embroiled in speculation that she received special treatment in her admission to Ewha Womans University and academic credits there. Due to the controversy over Chung, the university’s president, Choi Kyung-hee, stepped down, last week.
The mounting controversy is hitting hard President Park as her approval rating fell to a record low last week.
A Gallup Korea poll, released Friday, found that only 25 percent of respondents approved of Park’s job performance ― the lowest level since she took office in February 2013. Her endorsement has been on a decline since the scandal was first reported last month.
In addition, she had a negative rating of 64 percent ― the highest figure during the same span with the approval one.
“It is a serious warning to the President when her approval rating dips below 30 percent,” said a political analyst.
“The number means that her key advocacy group has turned its back on her, disappointed by the scandal.”
For Park, it is another bitter pill to swallow that her usually faithful supporters in her political strongholds of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are turning their backs on her.
Despite her visit there a week ago, her approval dropped to 35 percent from 44 percent a week earlier.
In the wake of the worsening public sentiment, President Park vowed stern punishment for anyone involved in irregularities at the two foundations ― her first public reference to the controversy since it was raised in September.
“Anyone who did anything illegal regarding the foundations will face strict punishment,” Park said during a meeting with her senior secretaries at Cheong Wa Dae, Thursday. “Organizations in charge of supervising the foundations should closely monitor their operations for transparency.”
In addition, she explained that the two foundations were established following legitimate discussions with conglomerates, while stressing their contributions to promoting the nation’s culture overseas.
However, her efforts have not seemed to ease negative public opinion on the issue.
“The allegations surrounding the two foundations are part of an influence-peddling scandal by the President’s confidant. However, she just denied her link to the issue, worsening her situation,” said Rep. Ki Dong-min, a spokesman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).
“This is the beginning of a lame-duck session.”
Amid growing negativity toward the presidential office and the ruling Saenuri Party, they are attempting to use a memoir written by former Foreign Minister Song Min-soon to turn things around.
Song, who served as the top diplomat for the late President Roh Moo-hyun, said in his book that the liberal government sought the North’s opinion before abstaining from a UN vote on human rights in North Korea, and former DPK Chairman Moon Jae-in backed the idea. Moon was the presidential chief of staff at the time.
As a result, the ruling side is going all-out to attack the possible opposition party presidential candidate, but it has yet to produce any tangible results.
“The memoir is a thing of the past, but the scandal regarding Choi is a current issue, so the public do not view the two matters in the same light,” said Yoon Hee-woong, a senior researcher at Opinion Live.
President Park’s declining approval rating has negatively affected the ruling party.
According to a Gallup Korea poll, the Saenuri Party is now tied with the DPK for first place in approval ratings, at 29 percent, for the first time ever.
In response to the result, ruling party lawmakers, including those loyal to President Park, have started calling for the prosecution to conduct a thorough investigation into the scandal.
“A prosecution investigation seems inevitable. For the President, we had better end the controversy as soon as possible,” said a pro-Park lawmaker.
Another Park loyalist said, “Choi has used the President’s name for her advantage. Why should we protect her?”