President communicating with public

During her dinner meeting with the leadership of the main opposition Democratic United Party on Friday, President Park Geun-hye made an apology over a string of errors in personnel affairs. “I am sorry for causing concern,” the president said. “When I arrived at the presidential office, there were no data reserved here. (So) I received, compiled and reviewed documents that were obtained from various organizations, but problems came up from the issues that were not found in the documents.” The fact Park broke her silence and expressed an apology for mishandling personnel affairs represents notable improvement in itself. But she should not just blame “lack of documentary materials” for her sloppy review of candidates for key government posts. Recent controversy over the personnel appointment was largely attributable to her personnel management style, which is well known as “diary-based personnel appointment” or “secretive personnel appointment.”

A president can make mistake, but it is important that she admits to an error and makes an apology promptly and sincerely. President Park should have apologized to the public for the only matter of withdrawals of six nominees for prime minister, ministers and vice minister-level posts due to ethical lapses or other reasons. Presidential Chief of Staff Huh Tae-yeol made an apology through the presidential spokesperson on March 30, merely creating negative sentiment and backlash from the “17-second apology (by the spokesperson)."

The apology by the president was made to the Democratic United Party’s leadership, rather than to the public. Of course, if interpreted broadly, an apology to the opposition leadership can be considered an apology to the people. But how apology has been made is as important as for what an apology has been made. It would have been much better if she made an apology to the public before doing so at a dinner meeting with the opposition leadership.

President Park has never held a press conference as a president-elect, or since her inauguration. When she urged the opposition parties to cooperate in passing a bill to amend the Government Organization Act on March 4, she made statement to the public, rather than holding a press conference. A president should proactively communicate not only with the public but also with the political sector. As people have many questions about issues such as national security, economy issues, and personnel affairs, President Park will need to hold a press conference and explain issues to the public in person.

Data preservation at the presidential office should be revised revision to and improvement of related laws. Personnel data on high profile people collected by the previous government are designated as presidential documents and are kept in secret, blocking even the new president from reviewing after the shift of administrations. Personnel data kept in secret contain sensitive issues including privacy information. There is dire need to amend related laws to allow the use of personnel data to ensure public purpose, while banning political abuse. What is more important than making an apology is the prevention of recurrence. It is hoped that President Park will not make the same mistake by changing her personnel management style and strengthening the candidate screening process.