Park likely to visit U.S. without acting first lady

The presidential office has tentatively decided that President Park Geun-hye will not have a person who will play the first lady’s role for the president`s first official visit to the U.S.

“The preparatory delegation that is visiting the U.S. will finalize a plan after it returns on Tuesday, but chances are high that President Park will not have someone as acting first lady,” a presidential office source said Sunday. “Without an acting first lady, there is no problem in the aspect of protocol.”

Since Park is the first female president and single, she has no one who can serve as the first lady. The presidential office considered letting Seo Chae-won, the wife of Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, to serve as acting first lady during the president`s visit to the U.S., but concluded that it is unreasonable to have Seo accompany the president while the prime minister stays in Korea, and that there is no need to do so. When accompanying former President Lee Myung-bak during his overseas tours, former First Lady Kim Yoon-ok had separate schedules related to areas of her interests such as hanshik (Korean food) or education. First Lady Kim did not accompany President Lee in a number of his overseas tours, including his visit to Greenland in September last year. The presidential office is reportedly finalizing a plan to not have an acting first lady during President Park’s overseas tours, as well as her upcoming visit to the U.S.

In previous administrations, the auxiliary secretariat 1 and 2 at the presidential office were in charge of assisting the president and the first lady, respectively. With the inauguration of the first unmarried president, attention focused on whether the auxiliary secretariat 2 would remain and how it would be reshuffled. “The auxiliary secretariat 1 assists the president with various policies and open schedules related to state administration, while the auxiliary secretariat 2 is responsible for the president as individual such as her livelihood, living in the presidential office and unofficial schedules," a source at the auxiliary secretariat said.

“Rather than defining the auxiliary secretariat 1 and 2 with functions and roles, President Park has allocated tasks to the first auxiliary secretary Chung Ho-seong and the second auxiliary secretary Ahn Bong-geun as they have worked for President Park over the past 15 years,” an official of the presidential office said.

Secretary Chung is reportedly involved in managing Park’s messages, and sometimes writes messages related to foreign affairs and national security on Park’s behalf. All reports related to policies are effectively reviewed by Chung before being submitted to the president.

Ahn, who has been assisting Park`s fieldwork since the early 2000s, is taking overall responsibility for the president’s fieldwork. Even before the presidential election was held, Ahn accompanied Park and took charge of handling civil complaints. The auxiliary secretariat 2 also deals with civil complaints that President Park gathers during her onsite visits, separately from the civil service secretariat’s office.

ditto@donga.com