"President Yoon Must Return to the Basics of State Governance and Focus Above All on the Economy and People's Livelihood"
[Asia Economy Reporters Naju-seok and Park Joon-yi] Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, warned on the 20th, "The privatization of presidential power, revealed through private hiring and unfair appointments favoring close aides, will inevitably come at a cost."
During a negotiation group speech held at the National Assembly that day, Park said, "During the Park Geun-hye administration, the state affairs manipulation by Choi Soon-sil, a non-official power who undermined the Blue House's public system, led to the unprecedented impeachment of a president in constitutional history."
He pointed out, "President Yoon Seok-yeol, who was elected with 48.6% of the vote, now has a recent approval rating of 32%," adding, "Just two months after the inauguration, the new government's approval rating for state affairs management is at a lame-duck level typical of the end of an administration." Park criticized, "The cabinet lineup, comparable to a personnel disaster, saw four candidates consecutively fall due to poor prior screening," and said, "An even more serious problem is President Yoon Seok-yeol's attitude toward the personnel chaos." He pointed out, "Even candidates Jeong Ho-young and Kim Seung-hee, whose disqualifications were clear, were dragged out in time and used as justification for pushing through appointments, resulting in the Ministry of Health and Welfare being left vacant amid the resurgence of COVID-19."
Regarding President Yoon's door-stopping communication, he criticized, "It is no longer a place for communication but a place to worry about the president's verbal slips."
In particular, Park expressed concern about favoritism toward the prosecution and close aides. He said, "Key positions in the prosecution have all gone to special prosecutors with ties to the president," adding, "There are even critical voices within the prosecution, the president's own home base, that the personnel appointments are excessive and resemble 'taking care of one's own people.'" Regarding key positions in the presidential office, he said, "The core positions in the presidential office have also been filled with prosecution-affiliated close aides," and added, "Criticism has been raised that the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's presidential office is dominated by so-called prosecution-affiliated 'Mungori Yuk-sang-si,' likened to the 'Mungori Trio' of the Park Geun-hye administration's Blue House."
Park also addressed concerns related to First Lady Kim Geon-hee, saying, "President Yoon Seok-yeol must listen to the controversies and public concerns related to Mrs. Kim," warning, "Is it acceptable that the president's wife, who said she would quietly support from behind the scenes, is now being called a powerful figure whom even the president cannot control?"
Regarding the West Sea government official incident and the deportation of North Korean defectors, he stated, "Political revenge investigations and outdated anti-communist witch hunts will never succeed in turning the tide," and warned, "Instead, it will face greater national criticism and resistance at a level that causes the loss of momentum in state affairs management."
Park urged, "Now is an extraordinary economic situation where the majority of the people are anxious and their lives are pushed to the brink of a crisis," and called for, "Returning to the basics of state affairs management and focusing above all on the economy and people's livelihoods."
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