Park unlikely to visit Japan

By Kang Seung-woo

President Park Geun-hye is unlikely to make her first visit to Japan as head of state next month amid the swirling corruption scandal threatening to unseat her.

Japan plans to host an annual trilateral summit with Korea and China on Dec. 19 and 20 and the government has expressed Park’s intention to attend if the schedule is fixed.

But as Park is a prime suspect in the prosecution’s investigation of allegations she let her confidant Choi Soon-sil meddle in state affairs to benefit Choi’s private interests, opposition parties are seeking to put a motion to impeach Park to a vote as early as Dec. 2.

If the motion is approved at the National Assembly, her duties as President will be suspended immediately, which will prevent her from traveling to Tokyo.

In the event of the impeachment, the government will have to consider sending Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn to Japan.

Hwang attended the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Peru earlier this month on behalf of Park, who is facing the biggest challenge of her presidency.

The nation’s biggest political scandal is widening amid signs of a thaw in relations between Seoul and Tokyo, once dented by historical and territorial rows.

Last November, Park held her first bilateral summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, three years after her inauguration in February 2013. The two nations reached a deal the following month to end their dispute over Japan’s enslavement of Korean women forced into prostitution in Japanese military brothels during World War II.

Should Park fail to attend the meeting, she is expected to follow the footsteps of her father, former President Park Chung-hee, who did not travel to Japan during his 18-year rule.