Pres. Park vows to clear up all suspicions on election meddling scandal

President Park Geun-hye pledged Thursday that her administration would "take impartial necessary measures and come up with preventative measures" once the judiciary releases a judgment on the allegation that the state intelligence agency intervened in last year`s presidential election.

"On the suspicion that the state agency meddled in the election despite nothing suspicious I made, I will clearly shed light on those suspicions without fail, and if there is anyone accountable for, I will make the people concerned take responsibility," the president said during a meeting with senior secretaries, breaking her one-month silence on the allegation.

"The government will make sure not only state organizations but also individual public servants will maintain strict political neutrality," she added, "The government will take next year`s local elections as an opportunity to upgrade the country`s election culture."

Observers say that Park has made an advance in the issue by pledging thorough investigations and due measures. She had shown an inflexible attitude toward the scandal, saying, "I owed nothing to the National Intelligence Service."

She called on prosecutors to "come up with a clear result as soon as possible that would leave no suspicions among the public," expressing her confidence in them. But she asked politicians to stop their political wrangling over the issue, urging them not to draw a conclusion and leave it to the judiciary.

The president also said she will put her policy priorities on improving the economy that directly affects people`s livelihoods. "Although there are continued signs of macroeconomic indicators for employment, investment and growth are improving, the economic sectors affecting people`s livelihoods have yet to get better," she said, stressing that a true economic recovery will come when people feel their livelihood improved.

The president asked her staff to do their utmost to get various bills for reinvigorating the economy pass the National Assembly in the upcoming regular session, calling on heads of government agencies to persuade lawmakers in person.

Commenting on a series of corruption scandals involving the country`s nuclear power plants, she called for thorough investigation and stern punishment in order to "make it impossible (for parts suppliers) to even imagine supplying counterfeit (parts) to nuclear power plants."