South Korea | Interim leader faces thorny issues

South Korean President Park Geun-hye

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who had a largely ceremonial job until President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment last week, now must face off against North Korea and deal with edgy relations with Japan as the country’s interim leader.

Hwang visited the Joint Chiefs of Staff and told fellow Cabinet members yesterday that there are no unusual security or economic developments. But he will soon face a slew of thorny issues that will test his leadership while the Constitutional Court reviews whether to endorse Park’s impeachment to formally end her rule.

NORTH KOREA

Hwang’s first move as interim leader was to tell his defense minister to bolster readiness for any possible provocation by North Korea.

North Korea hasn’t made international headlines since its fifth and biggest-ever nuclear test in September. That could be in line with its nuclear development timetable, but given that Park and North Korea had terrible relations, the North might want to avoid doing anything that could unite conservatives in South Korea behind her.

In a sign of the ongoing tensions, North Korea’s state media on Sunday released photos of its smiling leader, Kim Jong Un, watching a practice attack on a replica of Park’s presidential Blue House. A team of commandoes parachuted, shot at the Blue House model with rifles, leaving it engulfed in flames and black smoke.

HISTORY TEXTBOOKS

It’s probably the first major, hot-button issue that Hwang will face.

Park’s government had been pushing to require schools to use state-authored history textbooks starting next year, saying current textbooks published by private companies are too left-leaning and sympathize with North Korea. But in the wake of the massive anti-government protests touched off by a political scandal involving Park’s longtime confidante, the government took a step back, saying it wants to hear various opinions by Dec. 23 before making a final decision.

The liberal opposition is pressuring the government to scrap the textbook plan, calling it a move to beautify past authoritarian leaders, including Park’s late father, Park Chung-hee. The elder Park is a deeply divisive figure, with critics calling him a horrible human rights abuser who imprisoned and tortured dissidents, while supporters call him a national hero who guided the country out of poverty.

JAPAN DEALS

The opposition also wants to scrap two key agreements Park signed with Japan, calling them diplomatic fiascoes.

One settled a decades-
long impasse over Korean women forced to be sex slaves in Japanese military-run brothels during World War II, with an apology from Japan’s prime minister and a pledge of more than USD8 million in compensation. The other is about sharing military intelligence with Japan to better cope with North Korea.

The 2015 sex slave deal triggered criticism in South Korea because it was announced without getting approval from victims. The intelligence-sharing pact went into effect last month, and liberal critics accuse the Park government of trying to use the agreement to divert attention from the political scandal.  AP