Senior members of the ruling Saenuri Party denounced President Park Geun-hye’s aides Saturday over a recent debacle in Cabinet appointments and their lack of communication with political circles and the public.

During a workshop involving officials from the party and Cheong Wa Dae, the politicians also criticized the vague vision of the president’s policy for a creative economy.

“The biggest reason for the fall in the president’s approval rating is personnel problems. The office of the civil affairs secretary should set up a thorough vetting system,” said Kim Jung-hoon, a party lawmaker, during the session at a training center for civil servants in Gwacheon, south of Seoul.

“No one is coming forward to take responsibility for the nomination disaster while secretaries are only putting the blame on the personnel system and a lack of workforce. It is not an attitude expected from presidential secretaries,” lawmaker Kim Jae-won said.

More than 70 people attended the workshop, including 15 government ministers and 37 ruling party leaders, such as party chief Hwang Woo-yea and floor leader Lee Hahn-koo, as well as presidential chief of staff Huh Tae-yeol and all nine senior presidential secretaries.

It was organized to boost their cooperation over the new administration’s policies and projects.

Party leaders said the road map for the president’s key economic agenda has still not been clearly presented one month after her inauguration.

“If you want to win over the public, you should explain who will boost what kinds of industry,” said Lee Koon-hyon, the party’s ethics committee chief.

Floor leader Lee criticized the presidential officials for failing to articulate their vision for a creative economy and called on them to submit a comprehensive report to the party later.

After the meeting, the two sides called for closer cooperation with each other.

“All of us are in the same boat,” Prime Minister Chung Hong-won said. “If the government becomes successful and wins praise, credit will go to all of us. We should all combine our strength.”

Chung also called for legislative support from the ruling party so that the government could realize its key policy visions, saying the administration would be like “a car with flat tires” unless it had legislative backing.

Ruling party chief Hwang Woo-yea said the party and the presidential office have agreed to hold a meeting on a regular basis to coordinate stances on pending issues.

Hwang said that the party, the government and the presidential office should always maintain unity and conduct deep coordination and consultation from the beginning on all issues that carry national interest and are on budgetary issues.

“Different views should be respected and confusion should be prevented,” he said.

It is also the president’s belief that the ruling party should first be consulted on all policy issues, Lee Jung-hyun, the senior presidential secretary for political affairs, was quoted as saying by a participant at the workshop.

The secretary also quoted the president as saying recently that if she was able to gain the understanding of the ruling party, then that would be equivalent to having the understanding of the public, the participant said.

Park recently drew criticism even from within her party after a series of nominees for senior government posts quit over alleged ethical lapses and other problems.

Presidential chief of staff Huh issued a public apology earlier in the day, saying he was “very apologetic for causing concern to the people over personnel issues of the new government.”

During the workshop, Huh also called for closer cooperation between the party, the government and the presidential office, stressing that no issues related to the legislation or the budget could be resolved without support from the party and the National Assembly. He also said that having a successful president and government would be the key to the ruling party winning future elections.

(From news reports)