President Park Geun-hye postponed her U.S. visit originally scheduled for June 14-18 as controlling the further spread of the Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak became the top national issue.
The decision to postpone the visit was made because the president needs to take care of people’s safety amid the continued anxiety about MERS, according to the Blue House. Indeed, the public opinion is against Park embarking on an overseas trip in middle of a crisis, and the majority opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy as well as some members of the ruling Saenuri Party have been calling for Park to put off the Washington trip.
In making the unprecedented decision to cancel a presidential trip last minute, the Blue House must have been aware of the public backlash it suffered when Park made a brief visit to the UAE a month after the Sewol ferry disaster. Park’s departure for a tour of Central and South America on the first anniversary of Sewol ferry disaster was heavily criticized, too.
Park is under fire for having allowed the MERS to spread out of control. It is not only a serious health security issue, it threatens to cripple the economy as well. In typical Park fashion, the president allowed the situation to deteriorate before belatedly addressing the issue. The first MERS case was confirmed on May 20 but Park mentioned the issue for the first time during a regular meeting with chief secretaries on June 1. She did not have the correct figure on hand ― mentioning that there were 15 confirmed cases when the Health Ministry had updated the figure to 18 three hours earlier ― a telling sign of how unimportant MERS was considered during the meeting. In fact, Park devoted much of her time to stating her opposition to the National Assembly Law revision bill.
The first meeting of relevant ministers took place June 2, after two deaths from MERS and tertiary infections were confirmed. Later in the afternoon, the Blue House formed a special task force to deal with MERS. On the same day, Park attended a scheduled event in Yeosu, inviting much criticism for carrying on as usual when the country was facing a crisis.
Having allowed the MERS to spiral out of control, the Park administration scrambled to contain the spread, at the same time offering assurances to the public that there was no danger of MERS spreading to the community. Yet, the inability of the central government to manage the crisis situation has led to the local government declaring that they would take charge, causing even greater confusion among the public.
Park would not have been forced to make such a drastic move as postponing the Washington trip on such short notice if she had managed the situation effectively from the beginning. Even now, a control tower that would coordinate the various efforts appears to be noticeably absent. Now that she declared her resolve to take charge, even postponing the U.S. visit and making MERS a priority, it is time for Park to perform as the chief executive of the country and exercise astute leadership
