President Park Geun-hye reiterated joint efforts to push for economic reform Monday by operating a government-party consultative body at full capacity.
Park is set to celebrate her third year in office on Wednesday amid growing concerns over her leadership, inconsistent policies and unilateral personnel choices. Though she conducted a partial Cabinet reshuffle last week, the president has invited fresh criticism from opposition parties as she delayed her decision to name a new chief of staff.
Incumbent chief secretary Kim Ki-choon has been under pressure to resign for months over allegations that he exercised too much power over state affairs and personnel appointments. Park appears to have struggled to find suitable candidates to replace Kim. According to local news reports, the president could announce his successor Tuesday, but officials at Cheong Wa Dae have remained mute.
“I’d like to ask you to seek active and strong impetus to help the Cabinet push for new (reform) policies,” Park said during a weekly meeting with senior secretaries held without Kim in attendance.
“For the success of the reform, it is important to complete the legislation of (related) bills by the government and party dealing the process with one voice,” she said.
Recently, Park has been losing momentum for her proposed reforms aimed at bringing about economic revitalization. Since early last year, she has been calling for massive restructuring of the private and public sector, including the reform of the public servants’ pension system, education, labor and financial markets. However, the president has encountered a series of setbacks, including political scandals, nomination debacles and the Sewol crisis.
The trilateral committee, representing the government, the presidential office and the party, was launched last month as part of Park’s efforts to address the deteriorating situation. The president believes that enhancing communication between the legislative and executive branches could help speed up the implementation of her reform policies. The presidential office said later in the afternoon that the government has picked 24 major agenda to better facilitate economic reform and preparation for unification during Park’s remaining three years in office.
Park also urged officials to expand economic cooperation with Middle Eastern nations, stressing that massive construction and infrastructure projects in the region could become a new growth engine for South Korea’s economy.
“We should make aggressive efforts to use the second Middle East boom as a new growth engine for our economy,” Park said.
In the 1970s, South Korea sent tens of thousands of engineers and workers to the Middle East during a construction boom in the region.
The South Korean president plans to visit Saudi Arabia and three other Middle Eastern countries next week to discuss a wide range of issues including security, energy and information technology. Park is also set to sign a memorandum of understanding with her Saudi Arabian counterpart to introduce her mantra of a creative economy.
By Cho Chung-un ()
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
