The main opposition party on Monday officially rejected the ruling party’s proposal to build a neutral Cabinet, saying the Saenuri Party shares the blame with President Park Geun-hye for allowing the president’s close friend Choi Soon-sil to wield influence in state affairs behind the scenes.

“Building a neutral Cabinet without finding out exactly what happened in the first place is nothing but a stopgap measure to shift the political landscape in their favor,” said Minjoo Party of Korea leader Rep. Choo Mi-ae during a party meeting Monday.

“Saenuri has no right to talk about (a neutral Cabinet). They themselves have to apologize to the people,” she said.

The top priority now, the Minjoo Party leader asserted, is a thorough investigation into Choi and her aides to determine to what extent they exerted influence over Cheong Wa Dae and government agencies, and who helped them.

Many Minjoo Party members are skeptical of the ongoing prosecutorial probe into the scandal, calling it “a show” to settle public anger.

They demand a separate investigation by independent counsel -- not that appointed by the president. This would require a new law, because the current independent counsel act gives the president the right to compose the investigative team from candidates recommended by both ruling and opposition political parties.

Choi, a 60-year-old civilian President Park has been close with for four decades, underwent questioning Monday as part of the public prosecutors’ widening probe into the scandal.

She is accused of raising illegal funds and having access to confidential information with the help of Cheong Wa Dae officials. She is also suspected of rigging the Saenuri Party’s nomination process during the latest April election.

Minjoo Party’s rebuff of the Saenuri proposal to form a new Cabinet raised a furor, particularly because it was Minjoo Party politicians who first floated the idea.

Critics said the decision makes the liberal party look interested only in derailing any initiative taken up by its conservative rival rather than being a cooperative partner to address the crisis of national leadership that is engulfing the country. 

Some of the Minjoo Party’s presidential hopefuls, meanwhile, joined the move to attack the Saenuri-led effort to form a new Cabinet, highlighting that President Park and her governing party should stay out of the process to elect key government posts.

“If Saenuri recommends a new prime minister, it is not a neutral Cabinet,” said Moon, one of the first politicians to propose the idea of a new Cabinet. “I think it is a dubious plot to trick people. The new Cabinet should not be led by prominent politicians. It should be led by the people.”

Minjoo Party’s third-term lawmaker Kim Boo-kyum called the idea of Saenuri’s electing a new prime minister a “self-embarrassing decision.”

“If the president and Cheong Wa Dae are the primary suspects, Saenuri is their accomplice,” said Kim via his Facebook account. “If Saenuri begins to talk about candidates for premiership, they will end up favoring Saenuri regardless of their political leaning and individual characteristic.”

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)