Yoon rejects motion to dismiss foreign minister

Politics 18:37 September 30, 2022

SEOUL, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol rejected a call to dismiss South Korea's top diplomat on Friday, defying pressure from the main opposition party that controls parliament.

In a note sent to the media, Kim Eun-hye, senior presidential press secretary, said Yoon will not accept a parliamentary no-confidence motion to hold Foreign Minister Park Jin accountable for what the Democratic Party (DP) claims was a disastrous overseas trip by the president. No further explanation was provided.

Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks at a meeting with ambassadors to South Korea from Central and South American nations at the ministry headquarters in Seoul on Sept. 30, 2022. (Yonhap)

On Thursday, the DP, which holds a majority with 169 out of 299 National Assembly seats, passed a motion calling for the dismissal of the foreign minister despite the ruling party's boycott of the vote.

The DP sees Yoon's recent trip to Britain, the United States and Canada as a diplomatic fiasco, highlighted by gaffes and blunders. The party believed Park, as the top diplomat, should take the fall for the mess.

Yoon was never expected to comply with the motion. On Thursday, Yoon had called Park "a remarkably capable person" and said he was worried about the foreign minister's health because of Park's constant traveling "for the sake of the national interest."
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