President Yoon Suk-yeol speaks during a meeting on monitoring financial circumstances at the Korea Center for International Finance in downtown Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

Ruling party counters Assembly proposal by urging speaker to quit

By Nam Hyun-woo

President Yoon Suk-yeol has rejected a motion requesting the dismissal of Foreign Minister Park Jin, heralding further confrontation between the ruling and main opposition parties at the upcoming National Assembly audit sessions.

According to senior presidential secretary for public relations Kim Eun-hye, Friday, Yoon said he will not accept the motion, which was passed unilaterally by the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) in the National Assembly on Thursday night.

"The National Assembly's motion recommending Minister Park Jin's dismissal was notified to the presidential office," Kim said in a text message to reporters. "President Yoon said he does not accept the recommendation."

With the DPK holding 169 seats in the 300-seat Assembly, the motion was approved by 168 out of 170 lawmakers attending the plenary session.

Though the motion is a non-binding recommendation, the DPK pushed it forward as a political offensive against President Yoon and his foreign affairs team over a series of controversies that took place during Yoon's trip to the U.K., the U.S. and Canada last week.

The DPK has been calling Yoon's trip "a diplomatic disaster," criticizing him for not paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II while she was lying in state in London, as well as for announcing a "summit" with the Japanese prime minister when Japan had requested confidentiality, failing to have an official summit with U.S. President Joe Biden and made inappropriate remarks which included what could be heard as profanity directed at the U.S. Congress during a fundraising event.

It had been widely expected that chances are "very slim" for Yoon to accept the opposition's call, because the president trusts the foreign minister and the office does not recognize any of the wrongdoings from the trip.

President Yoon also showed his stalwart support for Minister Park during his impromptu interview with reporters on Thursday, saying "Minister Park is a man of outstanding ability."

Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks during a meeting with reporters at the ministry's headquarters in the Government Complex in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Friday. Yonhap

Park also said he does not have any intention to step down as minister.

"The main opposition party is belittling the trip as a diplomatic disaster but I cannot agree with the claim," he told reporters, Friday.

"The entire world is making its assessments of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's foreign policies and global visions, but domestic political circles are seeing the matter as a subject of partisan confrontation." He added that he plans to continue serving his role.

With Yoon and Park showing no signs of backing down, the DPK is increasing its pressure on the ruling bloc.

"The public has ears to listen and intelligence to know what's right or wrong," DPK Chairman Lee Jae-myung said, referring to Yoon's remarks. "Yoon should apologize. However, instead of apologies, he is now lying and intimidating the press for reporting his remarks."

Ruling People Power Party senior deputy floor leader Rep. Song Eon-seog, center, holds a motion calling for National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo's resignation at the National Assembly in Seoul, Friday. Joint Press Corps

In response to the opposition bloc's offensives, the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Friday tabled a motion urging National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo's resignation. Kim dropped his DPK membership because the Assembly's speaker cannot hold membership in a political party.

"Yesterday, Speaker Kim agreed to a change in the plenary session schedule without proper consultations with the PPP, allowing the DPK to approve the motion on impeaching Park," said Rep. Song Eon-seog, senior deputy floor leader of the PPP. "It was a violation of the National Assembly Act which stipulates the speaker's political neutrality."

Such a confrontation is anticipated to peak at the National Assembly's audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs slated for Tuesday. The DPK plans to use the audit as a stage to scrutinize the appropriateness of Yoon's trip last week, while the PPP is anticipated to make all-out efforts to defend the president.

Against this backdrop, the outlook is grim whether Yoon will have a meeting with party leaders including the DPK's Lee. On Sept. 14, senior presidential secretary for political affairs Lee Jin-bok said there is a necessity for the presidential office to consider a meeting between party leaders after Yoon's trip, but PPP spokesperson Rep. Park Jeong-ha said on Sept. 25 that "it will take time" for the meeting to take place.