The ruling Saenuri Party leader Kim Moo-sung, who had been on the defensive following Yoo Seong-min’s resignation as the Saenuri Party’s floor leader, seems to have regained his confidence through his trip to the US.
Kim visited Washington D.C., New York and Los Angeles on a 9-day trip to the US, which kicked off on July 25.
Though a meeting between Kim and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was canceled due to Kerry’s busy congressional schedules, many think that his trip to the US served as a great PR opportunity for the strong Saenuri candidate for the 2017 presidential election.
Kim’s trip to the US is reminiscent of then lawmaker Park Geun-hye’s trip to San Francisco in May 2009. At that time, Park was viewed as future presidential material under the Lee Myung-bak government. Kim outdid Park in the size of the entourage: 12 vs. 8 lawmakers.
The number of journalists accompanying Kim and his entourage was roughly 30, double the number for then lawmaker Park.
There was nothing so special about Park’s US tour: she delivered a lecture at Stanford University, visited Google in Silicon Valley and met with Korean Americans. As a result, her trip stopped short of receiving heavy coverage in the S. Korean news media.
On the other hand, Kim’s kowtows to the US veterans of the Korean War caught the eyes of the Koreans, whether they be rightist or leftist.
Lukewarm media coverage of Park’s US tour may have been a good lesson to Kim. He opted for the so-called “noise marketing,” thereby succeeding in garnering more media attention.
Kim kowtowed to the tombstone of General Harris Walton Walker, who was killed in a jeep accident in the Korean War, in Arlington National Cemetery, Washington D.C. What’s more, Kim said: “The United States is more important than China to South Korea,” therefore unnerving political and diplomatic circles.
Korean Americans defended Kim, saying his remark should be viewed as more of lip service. But a majority pointed out that the ruling party chief’s paying respect to war veterans on his knees was overkill.
“Despite the ruling party’s pressure on the government to approve the deployment of THAAD in S. Korea, President Park was having difficulty doing a delicate balancing act between China and the US. Thus, his remark definitely overshot the mark,” said a former senior diplomat. In fact, Yoo Seong-min’s call for the deployment of THAAD in S. Korea rubbed President Park up the wrong way, consequently costing him his floor leader post.
Left-wingers criticized Kim for being toady while right-wingers viewed his action as courtesy toward the closest ally. Having said that, for politicians, there is nothing worse than their efforts going unnoticed. Kim successfully basked in the spotlight.
Moreover, he is a political figure who is most likely to win the 2017 Saenuri presidential ticket. Some say that his behavior was carefully calculated in advance to win over Korean Americans, mostly conservatives, and independent voters.
Part of his image-making efforts, many believe, he tried to create equations: the US = national security, national security = conservatism, conservatism = Kim Moo-sung. As a matter of fact, an opinion poll, conducted right after his visit to the US, put him in first place for the 5th straight week.
Yoo Seong-min’s resignation as the ruling party floor leader was a great setback for Kim because Yoo and Kim were seen as an inseparable twosome. However, Kim’s US tour helped Kim come to the fore again.
“The ruling Saenuri party’s majority non pro-Park faction resented Kim’s failure in shielding Yoo from pressure from the government. Kim, however, broke the impasse by kowtowing to the US veterans of the Korean War,” said a member of the ruling party.
Kim has been put to the test once again. President Park has tasked Kim with the so-called “labor reform.”
Though Kim adamantly said “We may lose favor with voters in the general elections, but we gotta do what we gotta do,” many think that his comment was intended to butter up President Park. In other words, having learned a lesson from Yoo Seong-min’s fall from grace with President Park, Kim is playing it safe.
If Kim made any progress in “labor reform” until the next general elections (slated for April 2016), it would serve as the icing on the cake. In fact, if the Saenuri Pary wins the general elections, nothing will put a brake on him. If a political bombshell of gigantic proportions explodes in the run-up to the next presidential election, Kim will win the Blue House.
