A senior presidential secretary abruptly offered to resign on Friday after refusing to appear for a parliamentary hearing on allegations a key aide to President Park Geun-hye meddled in state affairs behind the scenes, lawmakers said.
Disobeying the presidential chief of staff’s instructions, Senior Presidential Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Young-han failed to attend the session of the House Steering Committee of the National Assembly convened to quiz key presidential secretaries over the allegations.
“Presidential Chief of Staff Kim Ki-choon told the civil affairs secretary to attend the parliamentary session, but the latter said he would rather step down from his post,” Rep. Kim Jae-won of the ruling Saenuri Party told reporters.
The junior secretary is suspected of intervening in the prosecution’s probe into the allegations sparked by the leak of a presidential document in late November.
The junior secretary’s disobedience is widely expected to deal a heavy blow to the presidential office still reeling from the allegations that Park’s former aide Jeong Yun-hoe and her younger brother Ji-man were engaged in a power struggle. On Monday, the prosecution concluded the allegations were unfounded.
“I will accept his resignation offer and recommend (the President) to dismiss him to hold him responsible (for the disobedience),” the presidential chief of staff told the session.
The main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) called on the presidential office to fire him immediately instead of accepting his resignation.
During the session, Kim, the chief of staff, apologized for the leak and vowed to take action to tighten discipline among his officials.
“(I) have deeply looked into myself due to this shameful incident,” Kim told lawmakers. “I feel sorry for causing concern among the people and lawmakers.”
It was his first official apology over the scandal. President Park has not made any official comment since the prosecution announced the probe results Monday.
“I’ve never clung to my post, and I am ready to quit whenever I complete my duty,” Kim said. He has been under pressure to resign, particularly from the opposition, to account for the political turmoil.
“Upon reading the document on Chung’s alleged political meddling, I was sure that all the contents were false, and felt no necessity to take any action,” he added, saying Chung has not been close to the president since 2004.
The former aide Chung served as President Park’s aide when she was a lawmaker but has never taken any official post in her administration. Park took office in February 2013.
Vowing to tighten discipline among members of the presidential office to prevent the recurrence of similar incidents, the chief of staff stressed that he and his officials would concentrate on carrying out their primary duty of assisting the president and supporting the handling of state affairs.
The parties have been locking horns over the scandal. Casting doubt on the outcome of the prosecution’s probe, the NPAD has demanded a separate parliamentary investigation into the scandal, which the ruling party has dismissed as a political ploy. (Yonhap)
