SKorean leader’s PM pick hints at probe into president

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL

South Korea’s Prime Minister-in-waiting Kim Byung-joon announced Thursday that President Park Geun-hye could soon be investigated, adding a further layer to the chaos encircling Seoul’s presidential office.

Park recently suffered a single-digit approval rating amid fierce public calls for her resignation for allegedly giving power over state affairs to a private citizen, her secret confidante Choi Soon-sil.

The president apologized last week after local media revealed that she had sought help with key speeches from Choi, who is facing other charges related to abuse of power and financial gain.

With Choi already in the custody of prosecutors, Kim told reporters a probe into the president might be forthcoming despite the prevailing view that she would have to voluntarily appear for questioning because of the legal protection offered by her position.

“There are different interpretations of the Constitution. But I believe we can conduct an investigation into Park,” Kim said just a day after being unveiled as the president’s PM nominee. “Everyone is equal before the law.”

Outgoing PM Hwang Kyo-ahn is one of the latest victims of what critics see as an attempt by the president to deflect her ongoing scandal by neutralizing a hitherto conservative administration.

Kim served under the left-leaning Roh Moo-hyun administration, while Park’s newly unveiled chief of staff worked under late liberal icon Kim Dae-jung.

Still, South Korea’s opposition parties earlier said they would effectively block parliamentary approval of Kim’s nomination because he was a unilateral choice by the president.

There is no indication that Park will change course imminently, at least in terms of foreign policy -- the Blue House has confirmed that a presidential summit with Kazakhstan’s leader Nursultan Nazarbayev will go ahead in Seoul next week.

But if Park does retain power until the end of her term in February 2018, Kim insisted he would not be afraid to take on wider responsibilities than is customary for PMs in South Korea’s president-centered system.

He said, for example, that he may take a different stance on contentious domestic issues like the government’s push to publish state history textbooks in a nation where the recent past is often retold along party lines.