The third-biggest People’s Party’s interim leader criticized President Park Geun-hye’s handling of the government in a parliamentary address Wednesday, blaming her administration for worsening cross-border relations and fueling public anger over South Korea’s politico-economic system.

Describing the president as the only change agent to national reform, the central-left floor leader Rep. Park Jie-won urged the president to hold a summit with North Korea and pursue constitutional amendment to change the five-year single-term presidency. The president has so far rejected both calls.

“The president is the root of all the problems and the solution,” the chairman said. “If the president changes herself, politics will change accordingly. The president should stop acting on her own and try hard to listen to the people.”
The floor leader devoted much of his speech to politically sensitive issues, in contrast to Rep. Choo Mi-ae, the leader of the main opposition The Minjoo Party of Korea, who focused more on the economy than politics in her parliamentary address a day earlier,

Park Jie-won also reiterated his call for the resignation of Woo Byung-woo, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs embroiled in a corruption scandal, and demanded that the government seek parliamentary approval for its decision to adopt the US advanced missile system.

The People’s Party has officially decided to oppose the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery here, citing its questionable efficacy and diplomatic fallout.

Throughout the 40-minute speech, the 74-year-old lawmaker -- often dubbed by the media and pundits as a “seasoned politician” for his negotiating skills and political maneuvering -- offered bold initiatives for the 20th Assembly whose regular session began last week.

This included the long-stalled summit between the two Koreas. The former chief of staff for the late President Kim Dae-jung, who held a historic summit with then North Korean leader Kim Jung-il, suggested that President Park sit down with the North’s Kim Jung-eun before her terms ends in 2017.

As a long-time advocate of the former President Kim’s “sunshine policy,” Park urged the government to renew food aid to Pyeongyang and offer them rice and tangerines produced in the South. Aware of the right-wingers’ criticism, he said that the aid would not be used to help the North’s nuclear program.

He also urged the lawmakers to create a special parliamentary committee and independent investigative agency to overhaul the nation’s judiciary branch that is rife with bribery scandals involving former and incumbent prosecutors and judges.

By Yeo Jun-suk  (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)