A top presidential aide’s resignation worsened tensions on Tuesday between the main political parties over a draft law reforming the civil service pension bill, as Korea’s top lawmakers struggled to restart the negotiations on the legislation.

Cho Yoon-sun was the top secretary for political affairs at Cheong Wa Dae, a liaison job between the ruling Saenuri Party and President Park Geun-hye. Park approved Cho’s resignation Monday. Cho cited her failure to persuade parties to pass the civil service pension reforms.

Cho’s sudden resignation stoked speculation that the former gender equality minister was preparing to run in next year’s general election.

Her close ties to Park supported rumors that the president would be unlikely to dump Cho. Cho was Park’s spokeswoman in early 2013, and served as her gender equality minister before being picked as the first female political affairs secretary to the president last June.

Praised for her gentle yet effective communication style, the lawyer-turned-politician’s political career saw smooth sailing despite her serving only one parliamentary term between 2008 and 2012. Cho failed to earn the party’s nomination for the general elections in 2012, but returned to spotlight when Park picked Cho as her spokesperson during the campaign and presidential transition period.

The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy, meanwhile, called Cho’s resignation a de facto sacking, and a gesture of the president’s determination to have her way in the proposed reforms. Cho’s removal was deliberately timed to pressure the NPAD to agree to the reform plans, they said.

“Reports said Ms. Cho resigned. But it was sacking, no matter how you look at it,” NPAD floor leader Rep. Lee Jong-kul said early Tuesday.

“Keeping the welfare minister at his post while removing a nominal secretary that even ruling party officials say had no fault in the (stalled pension reforms) is, in effect, a threat against the National Assembly,” Lee added.

Park, her Saenuri Party and the NPAD have been locked in a cat-and-mouse political game over the reforms that aim to vastly downsize pensions dealt out to retired civil servants. Reforms backers say the pension has enlarged the public debt by as much as 524 trillion won ($480 billion).

Leaders of the main parties agreed earlier this month to pass Park’s reform plans. But the deal also included NPAD-backed measures to strengthen the national pension ― a public scheme for almost all taxpayers.

President Park expressed her objection to the compromise. Her gesture pressured the Saenuri Party to ditch the agreement, creating the current impasse, Park critics said.

Cho’s Monday resignation was timed to add pressure on lawmakers to “get on with” the president’s demands, which do not include reforms to the national pension and the basic pension, some analysts said.

“I don’t know what (the president) is thinking, but I would advise her to step into the negotiations herself instead of adding unnecessary pressure on lawmakers to agree to her demands,” said Chung Jin-min, professor of politics at Myongji University.

“If someone had to be fired, it shouldn’t have been the senior secretary for political affairs,” Chung added. “Cho is under the command of Presidential Chief of Staff (Lee Byung-kee) and ultimately President Park herself.”

Another observer cautioned against making “unnecessarily broad” interpretations of Cho’s resignation based on unconfirmed rumors.

“Park’s removal of Cho is not a threat against anyone. I think that the removal was due to Cho’s perceived inability to communicate the president’s stance to the ruling party negotiators at the front lines,” said Yang Seung-ham, professor of Korean politics at Yonsei University.

The chief reason that the pension remains stalled is due to 2012 amendments to the National Assembly Act that allow the main opposition to indefinitely stall legislation, using its position as the party in charge of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Yang said.

The committee chair, NPAD Rep. Lee Sang-min, reserves the right to keep draft bills from going to a main vote.

By Jeong Hunny (hj257@heraldcorp.com)