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Park's first months in office void of principles, trust: opposition party

Aug. 22, 2013 - 13:38 By 윤민식

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday defined President Park Geun-hye's first six months in office as lacking principles and trust, saying she failed to keep many of her campaign promises and neglected the public's wishes.

Park, who took office on Feb. 25, has often cited principles and trust as the key pillars of her political philosophy.

"President Park Geun-hye's politics of principles and trust has turned into a politics that keeps silent in times of a democratic crisis and overturns the promises made to the people during the presidential election," Rep. Kim Han-gil, the DP chairman, told reporters at a meeting assessing the first six months of Park's five-year term.

Kim especially accused Park of hampering efforts to uncover the truth behind allegations that the state intelligence agency meddled in last year's presidential election in favor of the ruling Saenuri Party.

The scandal has been at the center of an ongoing feud between the rival parties. Early this month, the opposition party set up camp in front of Seoul City Hall to protest what it claimed was the ruling party's attempt to sabotage a parliamentary investigation into the scandal.

Kim also accused Park of scrapping her core campaign pledge of "economic democratization," which was aimed at creating a fair business environment for both large and small firms.

In a statement, the opposition party listed 10 promises Park has failed to deliver on, including increasing pensions, reforming the prosecution and reducing the term of mandatory military service.

The statement called on Park to fulfill her campaign promises or apologize and explain before the public the reasons for not being able to carry them out.

Among other demands, it also said Park should build trust with North Korea to resolve tensions over the communist country's nuclear weapons programs and bring peace to the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap News)