Park shows strong will to remain in power

By Yi Whan-woo

President Park Geun-hye has resumed her official functions as head of state, showing her firmer determination to resist mounting public calls for her resignation.

A Cheong Wa Dae official said Friday Park would attend a three-way summit with the leaders of China and Japan, which may take place in Tokyo next month.

She also presented letters of credence to 10 high-ranking officials she had recently appointed, including Cheong Wa Dae Chief of Staff Han Gwang-ok, Ambassador to the United Nations Cho Tae-yul and Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Choi Jai-kyeong.

“It is my understanding that Park will meet the Chinese and Japanese leaders once the schedule for the meeting is fixed,” her top press aide Jung Young-kuk told reporters when asked to verify Japanese media reports concerning Park’s possible presence there.

This is an indication that Park is unwavering in her decision to cling to power and continue carrying out state affairs despite popular demand for her resignation over the country’s worst-ever corruption scandal involving her confidant Choi Soon-sil.

Park’s return to business as usual comes as she faces questioning from the prosecution over her role in the influence-peddling scandal involving Choi as early as next week. The prosecution’s initial plan to question her in person this week has collapsed due to the President’s refusal.

The prosecution is considering specifying in the indictment of Choi that the President is a “colluder” with Choi who faces charges of breach of laws banning the sharing of confidential state documents, bribery and several other violations.

Park has shied away from official functions since she held talks with the visiting president of Kazakhstan on Nov. 10.

Park agreed to hold the three-way summit every year when she met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Seoul on Nov. 1, 2015.

But speculation has been prevalent that she may fail to do so this year as she virtually lost control of state affairs in the wake of suspicions that her longtime friend Choi had been pulling the strings behind the scenes. Choi allegedly wielded influence in a series of government affairs, including Park’s overseas trips, to gain illicit benefits.

Park’s decision to skip the 2016 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit also added fuel to such speculation. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will attend the APEC meeting, which will run this weekend in Lima, Peru.

Park is the first Korean head of state to miss the meeting since it began in 1993.

Cheong Wa Dae has been repeatedly assuring Park’s presence at the three-way summit, citing that the foreign ministers from the three countries promised in August to cooperate for the meeting.

“It is right for Park to show up at the Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo summit,” Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se also said before the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Thursday. “Japan has proposed possible dates for the meeting to both Korea and China and are coordinating the schedule accordingly.”

Meanwhile, among the 10 officials who received letters of credence included three senior presidential secretaries ― Hur Won-je for political affairs, Choi Jai-kyeong for civil affairs and Bae Sung-rye for public relations.

Park appointed the three plus Han in her partial reshuffle of her secretaries to grapple with the leadership crisis.

Two vice ministers ― Ahn Chong-ghee from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Yu Dong-hun from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ― also received letters of credence.

Yu replaces Kim Chong, who is under the prosecution’s investigation over allegations he gave business favors to Choi Soon-sil.