Park's authoritarian style deepens political

Park's authoritarian style deepens political divisions, raises approval ratings

KOICHI KATO, Nikkei staff writer

SEOUL -- Since taking office in February 2013, South Korean President Park Geun-hye has made unilateral decisions on a number of divisive issues. Despite a continued decline in her approval ratings, her decisiveness has helped recover popular support in recent months.

     However, her rigid adherence to her own principles has invited a wave of criticisms from opposition lawmakers, further widening divisions in South Korean society.

     The upcoming general elections in April will likely serve as a litmus test for Park's political performance.   

Kim Jong-in, left, was once a close policy aide to South Korean President Park Geun-hye but defected to the largest opposition party, the Minjoo Party of Korea. He drew up her campaign pledge, called economic democratization, back in 2012 when she was running for the presidency.

     On Feb. 16, Park met with Kim Jong-in, chairman of the emergency committee for the Minjoo Party of Korea, in a room in South Korea's National Assembly before she was to deliver a speech. Kim asked her to explain her sudden decision to suspend operations at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea. "You made the decision suddenly. So you need to explain the reasons in detail," he was quoted as telling her.

     He is currently head of the largest opposition party, but Kim once served as one of Park's top policy aides in her presidential campaign back in 2012. He formulated what he calls economic democratization -- a campaign pledge aimed at revamping the country's economic structure, which focuses heavily on big conglomerates -- and contributed to her election victory.

     But later, they disagreed on economic policies, and Kim defected from ruling party. In a meeting with owners of small and midsize businesses on Feb. 21, Kim criticized Park for favoring large companies just as in the past, adding that "this will make it impossible [to implement economic democratization]."

Unilateral decision-maker

In recent months, Park has made decisions on a number of important issues, ranging from a government-mandated history textbook and an agreement on the wartime "comfort women" issue with Japan to the closing of the Kaesong industrial complex. Even though these are all highly contentious issues, she does not appear to have made enough efforts to coordinate opinions among relevant parties beforehand. The opposition camp has countered her moves, saying she made the decisions unilaterally.

     In a parliamentary session on Tuesday, the Minjoo Party members engaged in a filibuster in a bid to block the passage of an anti-terrorism bill proposed by the government and the ruling Saenuri Party. One female lawmaker made a speech that lasted for more than 10 hours, raising concerns that the bill could be used to monitor individuals critical of the government.

     Even so, Park remains unfazed. "We can't tell where terrorist attacks will occur. Under such circumstances, we can't have strong economic development," she argued.