Pres. Park to spend another working vacation

President Park Geun-hye's summer vacation is next week according to the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae on Friday. However, she might not be able to enjoy her vacation since there are pending issues such as the suspicion surrounding Woo Byung-woo, the Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs, and the conflicts over the THAAD deployment.

President Park will use her vacation looking for solutions for a number of issues and making governance plans. Her most urgent problem is what to do with Woo. The opposition party has been strongly requesting Woo's resignation. During the Minjoo Party's emergency planning committee meeting, Minjoo leader Woo Sang-ho criticized the president by saying, "We told Woo not to hide behind the president, and now the President is hiding him." The People's Party leader Park Ji-won, the chairman of the party's emergency planning committee, also made a comment on the President's remark on the National Security Council (NSC) by pointing out, "The NSC does not stand for 'Woo Security Council'."

President Park might also review the cabinet reshuffle during her vacation. In the last three years, she always reshuffled her advising staffs or the cabinet after her summer vacation. If the president does decide to reshuffle the cabinet, it is going to be early August, considering the regular National Assembly session's schedule. The only variable could be Saenuri Party's convention on Aug. 9.

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