Published : Aug. 2, 2016 - 16:52
President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday reiterated her call for the deployment of a disputed U.S. antimissile shield and for the passage of the supplementary budget bill to stimulate the local economy.
The president also urged the government to abide by the purpose of the antigraft law that is slated to take effect on Sept. 28, while minimizing the potential negative impact on the economy.
President Park Geun-hye attends the Cabinet meeting at Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
The “Kim Young-ran Act,” named after the former head of the nation’s anticorruption watchdog, will place a ban on public officials, journalists and school staff from receiving monetary benefits from those related to their job function. Political parties have been suggesting that the president ease some of the restrictions set by the law through ordinances.
She did not, however, mention feud-ridden senior presidential secretary for civil affairs Woo Byung-woo, once again bypassing the high demand from the opposition for his dismissal, or an imminent Cabinet reshuffle speculated to take place this week.
Presiding over a Cabinet meeting on the second day of her return from summer leave, Park reconfirmed the decision by Seoul and Washington to install a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.
“I feel torn by anxiety that conflicts should persist over the THAAD deployment, while North Korea is continuing to improve its nuclear and missile capacity,” the president said.
She thus addressed the residents of North Gyeongsang city Seongju, who have opposed the deployment, citing health and environmental risks.
“It was based on thorough spot inspections and simulations that we selected Seongju as the ideal station for THAAD, but distorted stories and groundless rumors have been threatening the foundation of our national security,” she said.
“If we fail to take such basic defensive steps as the THAAD deployment, how may we safeguard the safety of our nation and of our people?”
Reminding the audience that she lost her parents in an “excruciating painful” experience, Park claimed her only remaining mission is to protect the country from threats, one of which is the communist neighbor’s military provocations. Park’s parents, former President Park Chung-hee and first lady Yuk Young-su, were assassinated in 1979 and 1974, respectively.
Park also pushed the parliament to pass the government’s supplementary budget bill to input some 11 trillion won ($9.9 billion) into corporate restructuring and job creation.
“Should this supplementary budget bill, which may help create up to 68,000 new jobs, fail to effectuate in time, it is the workers who will take the full blow of restructuring,” Park said.
By Bae Hyun-jung(
tellme@heraldcorp.com)