The Svengali who bewitched South Korea’s president

South Korea has had more than its fair share of political scandals over the years, said the Financial Times. But for sheer drama, none of them has come close to “the ongoing saga of President Park Geun-hye and her shadowy confidante Choi Soon-sil”. The daughter of a dead cult leader whose family has long been close to Park’s, Choi is accused of using her 40-year friendship with the president to pressure companies into donating millions of dollars to foundations under her control. It has also emerged that Choi exerted a “Svengali-like hold” over the head of state, editing her speeches, helping her choose ministers and even advising her how to dress. Choi is now in police custody, facing criminal charges, said E. Tammy Kim in New Yorker. Park, meanwhile, whose approval rating has fallen to just 5%, has apologised to the nation, reshuffled her ministers and promised to cooperate with prosecutors as they investigate the affair. In the end, her “impeachment or resignation seems inevitable”.

Park has “lost all moral authority”, said the Joongang Ilbo (Seoul). It’s hard to see how she can govern now – “especially without Choi barking directions from the wings”. All she can do is come clean about everything and thereby at least help salvage the reputation of the presidency itself. The “cabal of power seekers” around Park must be held to account, too. “The weird events of the last four years wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t averted their eyes from the obvious abuse of power” by Park and Choi. The “brazen lies” told by the nation’s rulers betray their contempt for the public, said Kim Nu-ri in The Hankyoreh (Seoul). “This scandal must be taken as an opportunity to bring about a qualitative improvement in South Korean democracy.” For that to happen, it won’t be enough for the politicians to change, said Jason Lim in The Korea Times (Seoul); the public will have to as well. Korea’s problems stem partly from the mentality of its people, who, on a subconscious level, are always looking for a “messiah” to help them attain what they consider “their rightful place as leaders of mankind”. This tendency to “deify leaders” is particularly pronounced in North Korea, but the South is prey to it, too. When you confer such status on leaders, it inevitably breeds arrogance in them and a dangerous obedience in their subjects. “Choi-gate” is “certainly a failure of leadership. However, it’s a bigger failure of followership.”