President Park Geun-hye agreed on Nov. 8, 2016 that she would cancel her appointment of Kim Byong-joon as prime minister and appoint one whomever is recommended by the National Assembly. This was reported by Korean-language daily, Dong-A Ilbo, this morning. She had appointed Kim as prime minister six days earlier on Nov. 2.
Speaking at a meeting with Speaker Chung Se-kyun at the National Assembly this morning, President Park said, “As the President of the Republic of Korea, I would say that in my responsibility nothing is more important than bringing the status of the administration of the state to normalcy and with this in mind I came to meet with the Speaker of the Assembly.”
She said, “If the National Assembly recommends a good person on the basis of agreement between the ruling and opposition parties, I would be glad to appoint the person as the prime minister and make an arrangement so that the new prime minister will actually have the overall control of the Cabinet.”
President Park’s statement in effect accepts the demand of the two opposition polities, namely the Minjoo Party and the People’s Party, who have been demanding the withdrawal of the appointment of Prime Minister-designate Kim Byong-joon.
The opposition camp no longer wants the withdrawal of President Park Geun-hye from active duty to the ‘second line of duty.’ According to Chosun Ilbo on Nov. 7, 2016, now the opposition leaders want President Park ‘out of office.’
Following the mass rally on Nov. 5 in Seoul and across the country, where the host organizations claim 200,000 joined the rally in Seoul, the opposition leaders changed ’ their mind. Now they want President Park Geun-hye to step down all together as President.
