Update | South Korean PM keeps job after double nominee debacle
Chung Hong-won retains position – despite resignation over Sewol ferry disaster – after two candidates to replace him were forced to stand down
After two failed attempts to appoint a new prime minister, South Korean President Park Geun-hye announced on Thursday her “agonised” decision to retain the incumbent who had resigned over April’s ferry disaster.
In an effort to assuage criticism of the government’s emergency response, Chung Hong-won had resigned just 10 days after the Sewol passenger ferry sank on April 16 with the loss of 300 lives.
Park accepted his resignation, but Chun was asked to remain in the job until a successor was found – a task that turned into an embarrassing debacle for the president.
Her first nominee, a retired Supreme Court justice, was forced to withdraw because of criticism over the large income he earned in private practice after leaving the bench.
The second, former journalist Moon Chang-keuk, withdrew on Tuesday over comments he made suggesting Japan’s repressive colonial rule on the Korean peninsula was “God’s will”.
The two climbdowns were a fresh blow to Park, whose popularity ratings – in the wake of the ferry disaster – are already at their lowest level since she took office 16 months ago.