Decision-making of South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s Scandal
In late October 2016, a political scandal involving South Korean President Park Geun-hye erupted. Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend and confidant of President Park, was found to have access to top secret national information and to have channeled public money into her own private foundations. Choi, a regular citizen without any special credentials or security clearances, seemed to have a disproportionate level of influence over the South Korean President. A large protest movement that today is millions strong was immediately organized to call for President Park’s resignation, and her own approval ratings have fallen to under 5% nationally.
However, despite mounting domestic (and international) pressure for her resignation, it is optimal for President Park to NOT resign. As a decision matrix, Park’s resignation will likely lead to a lengthy judicial process to determine her guilt (as she loses political immunity), and throw the country into further disarray. Although Park’s actions likely do warrant punishment or at least impeachment, the net benefit of removing her from the presidency is emotional at best- the cost of an immediate emergency election to determine Park’s replacement is expensive and may lead to further controversy.
Park’s term is due to end in 2018. Hopefully the South Korean people will be able to hold their collective national anger until then, and not resort to any futile measures to remove Park from office undemocratically.
Source:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37971085