Power struggle surrounding Saenuri chairman Kim Moo-sung

President Park Geun-hye doesn’t have much luck in having good advisors. It is hard to believe that President Park ordered not to invite local lawmakers to the Daegu event which was held two days ago, while she invited 12 local ruling and opposition party lawmakers to the ‘2015 Korea Regional Hope Expo’ on Sep. 9. A slow-witted aide may have decided not to invite local lawmakers thinking that it would please the president. Anyhow, President Park has been the subject of gossip that she pursues ‘narrow-minded’ politics.

Originally, her visit to Daegu was scheduled on Aug. 21 but has been postponed due to the North Korean landmine blast. At the time, the Daegu city government informed 12 Saenuri lawmakers not to attend the meeting with President as it was a briefing on the city administration. Again, the city government recommended the local lawmakers should not attend the meeting on the previous day before the meeting. The Blue House’s excuse that the Daegu city has taken care of it by itself sounds absurd as Daegu Mayor Kwon Young-jin asked some lawmakers for their understanding and said, “I will take one for the team.”

That happening in Daegu was the aftershock from the ‘bombardment’ of President Park targeting the former Sanuri floor leader Yoo Seung-min. The president once said, “Politics of betrayal must be judged.” One lawmaker’s comments are full of hidden meaning: “The president arrived in the Daegu Airport in the morning of the day when the event was scheduled. Coincidentally, the airport was located in Yoo Seung-min’ constituency. If I were Yoo, I would have gone to the airport to greet her. It could be justified since the president visited the constituency where Yoo represents. If Park had ignored him, it would have fueled the opinion to ‘save Yoo.’”

Some politicians said the Blue House luncheon with all Saenuri lawmakers at the Blue House on Aug. 26 was worse than nothing. Encouraged by the dramatic agreement reached on Aug. 25 between the North and the South, the Blue House suddenly invited lawmakers who were on an overnight training program to the luncheon, which caused complaints from lawmakers. At the time, President Park couldn’t sleep until the three days and two night’s negotiation ended and a capillary in her eye burst.

Considering President Park’s condition, handshakes with lawmakers were skipped. Park asked twice if it was okay (to skip the handshake protocol) when advised by the aides. For the presidential secretaries, the president’s health must have been on the top priority. But it generated a rumor that having distance with ruling party lawmakers might be because of Yoo Seung-min. President Park’s belated visit to the two soldiers who lost legs by North Korean landmine explosion must have been because of misjudgment by presidential aides. But all the blames are put on President Park.

During the former president Jeon Doo-hwan administration, Kim Yong-gap, then-Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs, got rid of the TV news show headline that started with “President Jeon Doo-hwan today… .” Kim made an outspoken comment that the public was sick and tired of listening to the headline and turned on TV five minutes later. At the end of the administration, Kim stood firm in his views and delivered voices of the public to the president who was experiencing political turbulences. “That’s Kim’s job,” said President Jeon, taking sides with Kim when some aides tried to put a blame on him. When Kim visited Jeon after he was released from confinement at the Baekdam Temple, Jeon expressed gratitude to Kim.

Unfortunately, President Park has no aide like Kim Yong-gap. However, Kim’s outspoken comments would have been useless if the President had not been broad-minded. The important criteria to differentiate a bad leader from a good leader is how much the leader can embrace an aide who has different views from the leader.

Many regard the happening in Daegu which excluded local lawmakers as a prelude to a tug-of-war for the general election in the ruling party. President Park needs to have aides who can speak without reserve. That’s the only way for President Park not to get lost in the political situation after the general election, which would be complicated like a labyrinth, where the ruling and the opposition confront each other and the ruling party suffers internal feuds.