Minister Park Sunae Resigns Amid Controversy Over 'Rushed Admission of 5-Year-Olds'
'Determined Appointment' Yoon Analyzed to Have Resigned Due to Worsening Public Opinion
Emphasizing "Minsaeng" with Low Profile... Attention on Whether Comprehensive Personnel Reform Will Be Implemented
President Yoon Suk-yeol is taking a commemorative photo after presenting the appointment letter to Park Soon-ae, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul on the 5th of last month. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Yunjin Kim] Park Soon-ae, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, became the first member of the Cabinet appointed by the Yoon Seok-yeol administration to resign. With the vacancies in the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Fair Trade Commission, and now the Ministry of Education, the government faces not only setbacks in state administration but also unavoidable criticism over personnel screening.
On the 8th, Minister Park held an emergency press conference at the Korea Educational Facilities Safety Institute in Yeouido, Seoul, and announced her voluntary resignation. After reading a resignation statement saying, "I take full responsibility for all controversies including the school system reform," she left without taking questions. Minister Park resigned 34 days after her appointment, marking the sixth high-ranking official 'personnel failure' case in the Yoon administration and the first dismissal among current Cabinet members.
Although the resignation was presented as voluntary, the dominant interpretation is that it was effectively a dismissal by the government. On the morning of the 8th, President Yoon, while arriving at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, responded to reporters' questions about Minister Park's possible resignation by saying, "We will review it from the public's perspective and take necessary measures if needed." About eight hours after President Yoon's remarks, Minister Park's resignation was announced, leading to analyses that this decision reflected a government-level resolution.
Before her appointment, Minister Park faced criticism for lack of morality and qualifications due to allegations of drunk driving and duplicate publication of papers. However, President Yoon approved her appointment without a confirmation hearing amid an incomplete parliamentary organization and defended her against criticism of the allegations by saying, "Have you seen such an excellent minister appointed by the previous administration?" which drew criticism for shielding Minister Park.
Although President Yoon had remained silent on opposition demands for personnel reform, he seemed compelled to respond amid successive personnel failures and controversies over the school system reform plan. On the 29th of last month, Minister Park announced controversial education policies such as lowering the school starting age and abolishing foreign language high schools without public consultation, sparking backlash over 'hasty implementation.' Ultimately, Minister Park resigned voluntarily, and the Ministry of Education excluded the controversial policy content from the parliamentary education committee report on the 9th. With Vice Minister Jang Sang-yoon stating that while they cannot say they will not pursue the admission of five-year-olds, it has become practically difficult, there is speculation that the policies were effectively scrapped along with Minister Park's resignation.
Consecutive high-ranking personnel failures have also affected President Yoon's approval ratings. In a presidential job evaluation survey conducted by Gallup Korea from the 2nd to the 4th among 1,001 adults aged 18 and over nationwide, 66% responded negatively, with 'personnel issues (23%)' cited as the top reason for dissatisfaction. In a survey conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute on the 5th and 6th for TBS, among 1,002 adults nationwide, negative responses to the president's state administration rose by 1.6 percentage points from the previous week to 70.1%, marking the first time the negative rating exceeded 70% in opinion polls. (For detailed information on the polls, refer to the Central Election Poll Deliberation Commission website.)
Minister Park's resignation has also put the appointments of the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Chairperson of the Fair Trade Commission under scrutiny. Following the voluntary resignations of candidates Jeong Ho-young and Kim Seung-hee for Minister of Health and Welfare and Song Ok-ryeol for Chairperson of the Fair Trade Commission, these two positions remain vacant more than 90 days after the new government took office. As public backlash against personnel failures grows, pressure on the government to thoroughly screen successors is expected to intensify. The implementation of President Yoon's 'three major reform tasks'?pension, labor, and education reforms?is inevitably delayed until the leadership is reorganized.
The government plans to first resolve Minister Park's position to calm public opinion and focus on livelihood policies. On the morning of the 8th, President Yoon showed a humble attitude, saying, "What I must do for the people is to carefully consider their will and faithfully serve it." The presidential office also announced that during the weekly meeting with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on the same day, President Yoon instructed, "Mobilize all available resources to prepare bold and extraordinary Chuseok livelihood measures."
However, demands for a comprehensive personnel overhaul of the presidential office and cabinet beyond Minister Park's resignation have not subsided. On the 8th, People Power Party lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae appeared on YTN Radio's 'News King with Park Ji-hoon' and said, "If there is a cabinet that undermines the president's approval rating due to problems, I believe a personnel overhaul is necessary with a spirit of decisive action. Only then can the public's expectations for the new government be restored." On the 9th, Park Hong-geun, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, pressured at the National Assembly floor meeting, saying, "Minister Park's resignation is only the first step to 'restore abnormality to normality.' The state administration must be corrected through a major policy shift and a comprehensive personnel overhaul."
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