President rejects calls for big reshuffle
President Park Geun-hye showed no intention of acquiescing Tuesday to public calls for a large-scale Cabinet reshuffle to enable a fresh start to her third year in office.
At a Cabinet meeting in Cheong Wa Dae, Park said any shake-up would be small in scale, appointing among others a new maritime minister to succeed Lee Ju-young. He stepped down from his post on Dec. 23 after having handled the aftermath of the Sewol ferry disaster which occurred on April 16 last year.
The President added she will reorganize Cheong Wa Dae while naming a group of special advisors to coordinate between the political parties and the government.
“I expect to make a new start through such a reshuffle,” Park said.
According to sources, Park is expected to carry out the reshuffle this month though it remains to be seen which of her aides will be replaced.
Pa rk ’ s announcement came after her approval ratings sank to a new low ahead of the third year of her five-year presidency which began in February 2013.
Park’s popularity has plummeted to a record-low 35 percent, according to the latest Gallup poll released Friday. Her ratings fell by five percentage points from a week earlier.
She has faced growing concerns over repeated failures in personnel management plus l ax discipline prevalent at Cheong Wa Dae.
However, at her New Year press conference on Jan. 12, Park, refused to accept demands from the public to replace her disputed presidential chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, and three of her presidential secretaries.
Kim has been blamed for wielding his power excessively. The trio — Lee Jae-man, Jeong Ho-sung and An Bong-geun — are suspected of involvement in allegations of meddling in state affairs that stand against Park’s former aide, Jeong Yun-hoe.
At the conference, Park said she would retain all three. Instead, she proposed naming a group of special advisors to bolster her state management team.
According to Cheong Wa Dae, such a group would be independent from the presidential secretary’s office. It would give advice to the President directly on various matters, including the economy, politics, civil affairs, diplomacy, international affairs, defense and public relations.
Park said Tuesday those advisors will be crucial to effectively imple- menting her three-year economic reform plan.
Introduced in February 2014, the plan is aimed at recovering the country’s sluggish economy and set a bold target of reaching $30,000 in per capita gross domestic product, a 70 percent employment rate and a 4 percent potential growth rate over three years.
But the government was focused for eight months last year on dealing with the consequences of the Sewol disaster that claimed over 300 lives, mostly high school students.
The President called for collaboration among the private and public sectors this year and also urged them to set up task forces to produce “tangible results.”
“The central and local governments, public organizations and private enterprises need to communicate and work together to carry out the country’s economic plan effectively,” she said.