by Yoo Seungki
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- A political scandal imperiling South Korean President Park Geun-hye will affect the Northeast Asian country's diplomacy with its neighbors, as public doubts arise over government decisions on diplomatic and defense affairs, a major presidential hopeful in the opposition bloc said Thursday.
Lee Jae-myung of the main opposition Minjoo Party, who is currently the mayor of Seongnam, a city in the Gyeonggi province, told Xinhua that Seoul's diplomatic relations "will be affected" by the scandal over Choi Soon-sil, Park's longtime confidante suspected of intervening in state affairs.
"Public doubts emerged about whether the deployment of THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) was a reasonable decision," said Lee.
Seoul and Washington decided in early July to install one THAAD battery on South Korean soil by the end of next year, roiling diplomatic ties with neighboring countries, especially with China and Russia, two countries who have persistently opposed the U.S. missile shield deployment.
Chinese and Russian opposition stem from THAAD's X-band radar that can peer into the territories of the two nations.
"Propulsion power" to push through the U.S. missile defense system, the mayor said, will be affected amid rising doubts about why the Park administration reversed its initial stance and insisted on installing THAAD given how little it will contribute to national security.
One opposition party lawmaker recently raised questions about a possible outside involvement in the THAAD deployment decision, calling for an investigation into whether there was any political big shot pulling strings favorable to Lockheed Martin, the THAAD manufacturer. He did not refer to Choi.
Choi, the daughter of a religious cult leader, is suspected of peddling undue influence and meddling in government decisions, including the shutdown of the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation and editing one of Park's most important speeches made in 2014 in Dresden, Germany, which laid out a vision for reunification of the two Koreas.
The 60-year-old private citizen with no government position and security clearance is accused of having access to confidential presidential reports that involve Park's schedule for overseas trip and secret military contacts with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) under the administration of Lee Myung-bak, Park's predecessor.
Choi is sometimes dubbed as a Korean Rasputin like her father, who Park portrayed as her mentor "in toughest times" and created a religious sect called Eternal Life that combined Christianity, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism. Rasputin was regarded as a Russian mystical faith healer and friend of the family of Nicholas II.
The elder Choi was a Buddhist monk, later converted into Catholic and became a Christian pastor.
"Sovereignty of the Republic of Korea (ROK) lies with the people, and the people elected Park as president. But, she transferred valuable sovereign power to a person who can never be accepted. It hurts pride of the people," said Lee.
Lee recently became a rising star in the opposition bloc for next year's presidential election. His approval rating surged to 9.7 percent, according to a local pollster Realmeter survey announced on Thursday. It was up 3.8 percentage points from the previous week.
Support for Lee is just 0.6 percentage points lower than Ahn Cheol-soo, another presidential hopeful of the minor People's Party, who ranked third but saw his support rate fall compared with a week earlier. Former Minjoo Party chairman Moon Jae-in ranked first at 20.9 percent, but his support base inched up 0.6 percentage points.
Lee's rising popularity arose recently from his active participation in public protests that have been held every night in capital Seoul and other major cities. Last Saturday night's rally, in which tens of thousands shouted for Park's resignation or impeachment, is forecast to be repeated this Saturday, when local media reports predict a gathering of 30,000-40,000 people.
"The people want impeachment, but the political sphere is hesitant. (President Park) will be in for impeachment if public resistance intensifies," said Lee.
Besides, the Choi Soon-sil scandal will affect his country's relations with the United States and Japan as Seoul's unilateral push to sign a military accord with Tokyo would spark public anger, Lee predicted.
South Korea and Japan held a first working-level dialogue earlier this week to sign a pact on sharing military intelligence on the DPRK after a botched attempt four years ago. Under the pact, the two nations would be allowed to directly exchange intelligence on Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.
Former President Lee Myung-bak pushed to seal the hush-hush military deal with Japan in 2012, but it was scrapped at the last minute due to a public outcry over the closed-door attempt without any social consensus and parliamentary consultation.
Many South Koreans still see such a deal with Japan as unacceptable until the Japanese leadership apologizes to and compensates the Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II, and are euphemistically called "comfort women."
Adding to the frenzy of anger, Japan has regularly lodged territorial claims over a set of disputed islets, called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The islets have been controlled by South Korea since its liberation in 1945 from Japanese colonization.
"Without the Choi Soon-sil scandal, (Park) may have pushed the intelligence deal with Japan through without public consensus and parliamentary consultation. In this respect, the public has been spared," said Lee.
