Park Geun-hye government off to a rocky start as Government Organization act not yet passed in National Assembly

By Kim Oi-hyun and Seok Jin-hwan, staff reporters

The anger was evident in President Park Geun-hye’s tightly clenched lips. Her eyes flickered but didn’t blink. She kept her voice about a half tone above normal, but every so often it went up another step or gave off a rumble. At one point, she lifted and shook her clenched fists repeatedly, seemingly about the strike the podium. Fortunately, it remained unscathed.

Park Geun-hye‘s address to the nation on March 3 was her second public event since her inauguration on Feb. 25. But the beaming face seen at that ceremony was gone entirely.

The senior Blue House secretaries sitting in rows next to the press room also had their lips clenched and their faces flushed.

“It’s the scariest I’ve ever seen her,” one senior secretary said. “I went to greet ger, and she was so cold and grim.”

Another source advised looking more at the message than the expressions. “Things have to be resolved through dialogue, but the opposition is refusing to do that,” the source said. It was an acknowledgement of sorts of the glaring problem of, well, glaring.

As for the message, it was closer to a screed of discontentment over a thorny political situation than an attempt to win over the public.

“We are now facing a security crisis after North Korea’s nuclear test and repeated provocations,” the President said in her address. “Things are also very difficult with the global economic crisis and the working class economy. We are now facing serious setbacks in our government because a week has passed since the new administration took office and the Government Organization Act amendment has not been passed by the National Assembly.”

Her voice took on a particular edge when she called the situation “unprecedented in the history of constitutional government.” It was rhetoric reminiscent of the authoritarian era, when the government pled for orderly cooperation by mentioning security and economic concerns.

Park went on to make an appeal for trust in her sincerity. Describing the role of the newly created Ministry of Future Creation and Science, she said it involved “no political motives besides creating many good jobs and improving people’s lives.”

“Not only is there no intention of ‘taking control of broadcasting’ as some are claiming, but it would be legally impossible anyway,” she added. “As President, I ask that the politicians and the people understand my feelings of sincere loyalty to the country and its people.”

Park read a statement for about nine minutes and 50 seconds before bowing her head and leaving with Chief of Staff Huh Tae-yeol and other aides. Reporters were not given a chance to ask questions, even though the talk was billed as a “conversation.”

At the same time, Saenuri leaders watched the statement live on television at the National Assembly, where a closed-door meeting of the supreme council was being held. Originally, they had planned to discuss their next course of action after watching the address, but they were left looking stricken over the unexpected ferocity. During the broadcast, one attendee reported gasped, “I’m getting chills!” Members of the supreme council and party leadership were seen grumbling after the meeting. “There’s nothing more we can do now,” one said. “The party can’t do anything,” another said.

Criticisms also flew at a closed-door meeting of Saenuri Party lawmakers at the National Assembly that morning. Cho Hae-jin, a lawmaker in the party‘s Lee Myung-bak wing, was quoted as saying, “You may be able to influence the public by giving a talk that’s full of resolution, but you can’t solve everything that way. We’re past the age of ‘ruling.’ It’s just politics now.”

Cho also reportedly declared, “The President’s popularity with the people may go up temporarily if she keeps her distance from Yeouido [National Assembly] politics, but in the end the president is the center of politics,” drawing applause from other lawmakers.

　

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