Park punished for her wrong decisions
South Korea’s parliament on Friday passed a motion to impeach President Park Geunhye. In the next 180 days, the Constitutional Court will review the motion, during which time, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn will serve as the acting president.
Of the 234 lawmakers who voted in favor of the impeachment, 62 came from the ruling Saenuri Party, a signal that Park has lost support even from her own party.
The corruption scandal involving Park’s confidante Choi Soon-sil is not the only reason behind South Korean people’s disappointment. More importantly, Park has led her country astray from the normal path.
South Korea is surrounded by major powers and is mired in the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Diplomacy is key to South Korea’s prosperity and stability. With a booming Chinese economy, South Korea has developed the closest and most stable relationship with China among the US allies in the Asia-Pacific region. Despite disturbances, Seoul and Beijing have forged a cooperation of colossal scale.
On September 3, 2015, South Korea’s diplomatic independence reached a peak when Park attended China’s V-day parade while the US and Japanese leaders were absent. Park has tapped Seoul’s diplomatic potential and established the country’s own geopolitical advantage.
After Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test in January, Seoul’s ire is understandable. But Park’s 180-degree change in foreign policy, her almost hysteric criticism of China and her headstrong decision on THAAD deployment have seriously violated China’s national interest. What Park did this year does not seem to come from a cool and rational mind. Some South Korean media reported that part of her decision to fall back in the arms of the US was due to a delay in China’s arrangement of a hotline conversation and Park’s sense of insecurity. If such reports were true, it would be laughable.
The decision to deploy THAAD has cost Seoul much strategic space. Some of China’s measures to reduce bilateral exchanges were interpreted as “sanctions.” To compensate for the loss, Park began to improve ties with Japan and signed an intelligence sharing pact in November. By doing so, she is leading South Korea back to the shadows of the Cold War.
Many South Koreans can see that their country has embarked on a wrong path. South Korea’s opposition party strongly opposes the THAAD deployment and public protests have soared. Park was not just punished for the confidante scandal but also for her wrong decisions that led the country astray. She was impeached and the public has showed no mercy because as a president, Park’s handling of national strategies was reckless and capricious.