Two key Blue House aides -- presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook and Park Jong-joon, the deputy head of the presidential security service -- have resigned from their posts to run in the parliamentary elections next April.
The two join Jun Kwang-sam, a former Blue House press officer who stepped down last month with the same parliamentary ambition. The Blue House said that they asked all the presidential staff about their future plans and that no more Blue House staff would run in the upcoming elections. It was reported that the Blue House made the same inquiries with the Cabinet ministers.
The move is seen as being aimed at ending the speculation that President Park Geun-hye may interfere with the selection of ruling party candidates to favor her associates.
Park and her associates had already clashed with ruling party leader Kim Moo-sung over how to nominate the party’s candidates. The dispute surrounded the adoption of an open primary system based on telephone surveys of the general public.
In the face of strong criticism from the Blue House, Kim had to withdraw the plan, which he had agreed with opposition leader Moon Jae-in. The Blue House’s intervention inspired the pro-Park faction in the ruling party to mount an offensive against Kim.
For all the justifications for their respective stances on the open primary system, it was apparent that Kim wanted to cut off Park’s influence in the nomination process, while the presidential office worried about its negative impact on incumbent pro-Park lawmakers and potential candidates who are close to the president.
The infighting within the ruling camp not only raised eyebrows among the public but also emboldened Moon to demand that Park leave the party. It is an unreasonable demand, but Park deserves criticism for planting the seeds for the dispute. Park tends to engage in ruling party affairs too much and be intolerant of people who have views different to her own.
In another display of hardball politics, Park virtually forced the ruling party floor leader, Yoo Seong-min, out of his post in July over the parliamentary passage of a controversial bill. She did not invite Yoo and other ruling party lawmakers elected from Daegu when she visited the city, her political stronghold, last month.
It is quite rare that lawmakers miss out on a presidential event and the episode fueled the speculation that Park may try to nominate her close aides as candidates in Daegu and nearby districts, where Saenuri Party tickets usually guarantee an easy win.
It is probably against this backdrop that the Blue House wanted to end the speculation that more presidential aides may line up for the ruling party nominations.
But the announcement alone cannot free Park completely from charges of intervening in the ruling party nominations. One urgent thing for her to do is replace – right away -- the Cabinet ministers who plan to run in the elections.
There are five Cabinet ministers who have parliamentary seats and it is widely believed that all of them will run in for reelection. Two more – the interior minister and the industry minister – are reported as potential candidates.
Under the law, the ministers have only to resign by Jan. 14 next year, 90 days before the polling date. But the Blue House announcement has already stoked reports about a possible partial Cabinet reshuffle and the extension of their stay will do the nation and the president no good.
Of course, it would have been better had Park taken action in July when she rebuked Cabinet ministers for being distracted by concerns about what she called “personal paths.” It would have been much better had Park not brought the lawmakers into the Cabinet in the first place.
