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| President Park Geun-hye pays a condolence call Monday to former Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil, whose wife, Park Young-ok, died of an illness Saturday at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The late wife was the eldest daughter of Park Sang-hee, the elder brother of the former President Park Chung-hee, the father of the incumbent President. / Yonhap |
By Kang Seung-woo
With President Park Geun-hye about to start the third year of her presidency on Wednesday there is still a lingering question: can she finally change her style of governance?
Since taking the oath of office as the nation's first female president two years ago, Park has come under heavy criticism for being isolationist despite an urgent need to solidify national unity to cope with mounting tasks.
Such a self-righteous governing style has resulted in her once-dominant approval rating sagging around 30 percent, though it has shown signs of rebounding lately.
In order to repair her reputation, Park recently showed some intent to change, but there is skepticism over her drastic transition.
In 2015, President Park has made various attempts to strengthen communications with her Cabinet members, senior presidential secretaries and others in political circles.
Criticized during her New Year address for a failure to have face-to-face meetings, Park has had tea time ahead of Cabinet meetings or other government conferences.
In addition, Park's office is seeking ways to communicate with the people in a more direct way, in commemoration of the second anniversary of her inauguration.
Within Cheong Wa Dae, Park appears to have been pressured into regaining momentum in the management of state affairs.
However, Park has failed to explain pending issues on state affairs to the people and listen to public opinion, compared with her two predecessors Roh Moo-hyun and Lee Myung-bak.
During their respective terms, Roh had direct conversations with the public on four occasions and Lee engaged with them on seven occasions in order to answer questions and test public sentiment. Those numbers do not include nationally televised press conferences.
Park, however, has never committed to dialogue with the public, merely holding a press conference twice on the occasion of the New Year. She delivered a statement to the nation several times, but has not answered questions directly from the voters.
However, the presidential office says that whenever President Park visits events outside Cheong Wa Dae, she spends a great deal of time talking with local residents, merchants and business people.
"President Park has abstained from events for show as she is not fond of such things," said an official of the presidential office.
"She must figure out the importance of beefing up communication efforts better than anyone else."
In the nation's five-year, single-term presidency, the third year is seen as the final opportunity for the head of state to display a solid performance during their term.
During the first two years, trial and error can be tolerated to some extent, but from the third year of the presidency the state head should reap the fruits of labor in state affairs in some way or other.
Park earned her reputation in the handling of North Korea and diplomatic issues, but her success has been limited on the domestic front.
There are calls for Park to be selective in dealing with state affairs to improve her overall performance.
"Should Park fail to do something impressive in her third year in terms of state affairs, it will be much tougher to do after that," said a ruling Saenuri Party official.
"She needs to give priority to one or two tasks at this point."
Along with her style of governance, it remains to be seen if her approval rating bounces back above 40 percent.
The President's rating had fallen to an all-time low of below 30 percent before rebounding for the second straight week.
According to Realmeter, a local pollster that conducts a weekly poll on the President's approval, her rating stood at 36.4 percent for the third week of February, up from 34.2 percent a week earlier and 31.8 percent in the first week of the month ― her lowest rating.
However, she may still face a rough road to win back the public confidence.
This week, Park is expected to select her new chief of staff to replace Kim Ki-choon, who has been under heavy pressure to step down due to Cheong Wa Dae's series of botched government appointments.
But should she come up with a replacement that falls short of meeting public expectations, the President may see her approval rating drop again.
In addition, her government's reform drive for civil servants' debt-ridden pension system and the labor market structure can be sticking points in her approval rating as well.
