SEOUL, Nov. 11 -- South Korean parliament on Friday held an emergency interpellation session to grill cabinet members over a scandal involving President Park Geun-hye's longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil suspected of meddling in government affairs behind the scenes.
Lawmakers of three main opposition parties raised a flurry of questions about Choi's involvement in important state affairs, including the U.S. missile shield deployment decision, while none of ruling Saenuri Party members requested an inquiry.
Rep. Ahn Min-seok of the main opposition Minjoo Party inquired Defense Minister Han Min-koo about whether the defense chief was informed of the contacts of Jeong Yoon-hoe, Choi's ex-husband, with arms lobbyist Linda Kim and the Lockheed Martin side.
Lockheed Martin is a manufacturer of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), a U.S. missile defense system which South Korea agreed in July with the United States to deploy in its soil by the end of next year.
It was a surprising decision given that Seoul had refrained from the issue and seemingly felt uncomfortable with even mentioning it.
Choi, whose friendship with President Park dates back to the mid-1970s, had maintained an acquaintance with the arms lobbyist at least since 2000, according to Joongang Ilbo newspaper. The lobbyist was detained in October for drug-administering charges.
Some of local media outlets and opposition lawmakers speculated that Choi may have engaged in South Korea's weapons procurement projects as well as the THAAD deployment decision.
Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagles were supposed to be selected as South Korea's next-generation fighter jets in 2013, but the widespread expectation was overturned in September of the year as the defense ministry's arms procurement committee voted it down.
About two months later, Lockheed Martin's F-35 fighter jets were offered as a sole candidate and finally picked to replace South Korea's decrepit combat planes. President Park took office in February 2013.
Rep. Chung Dong-young of the minor People's Party claimed that the defense minister was excluded from the THAAD installation decision and that his claim is sufficient to make President Park impeached.
Chung asked Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn about how to think about Choi's involvement in the decision to shut down Kaesong Industrial Complex. In response, the prime minister said he hadn't heard of the private citizen's engagement.
The inter-Korean factory park in Kaesong, the border town of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), was closed down by South Korea following the DPRK's fourth nuclear detonation in January and the launch in February of a long-range rocket.
Choi, a private citizen who has no public position, is suspected of deeply meddling in government affairs, ranging from selecting wardrobe to be worn by the president in official events to the editing of presidential speeches and the appointment of cabinet members.
Allegations include decisions on the shutdown of the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation, THAAD deployment and the state-authored history textbook that sparked concerns that new textbooks may beautify military dictatorships and the Japanese colonization of the Korean peninsula.
President Park's approval rating stayed at 5 percent this week, unchanged from the previous week, according to a Gallup Korea poll of 1,003 adults conducted from Tuesday to Thursday. It was the lowest for any South Korean president.
Park's approval rating, which moved from 30 percent to 50 percent in the first three years of her presidency, turned downward this year and plummeted over the Choi Soon-sil scandal.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to march in central Seoul this Saturday to demand Park's resignation. Organizers estimated at least 500,000 people would turn out, while police said 160,000-170,000 would take to the streets.
Meanwhile, South Korea is pushing a hush-hush military intelligence pact with Japan after a botched attempt four years ago, as public attention is being centered on the political scandal.
Seoul's defense ministry said the two countries would initial the accord next week in Tokyo to share military intelligence on the DPRK's nuclear and missile programs. If internal procedures are passed smoothly, the deal is forecast to be formally signed in late November.
Former President Lee Myung-bak sought the pact in 2017, but it failed at the last minutes amid a public outcry over the hurried, closed-door deal without any social consensus and parliamentary consultations.
Many South Koreans still see such a deal with Japan as unacceptable as the Japanese leadership has yet to sincerely apologize for its militaristic history. The country was colonized by the Imperial Japan between 1910 and 1945.
The main opposition party said Thursday that it will propose the resignation of the defense minister if the push for the military pact with Japan continues in defiance of oppositions from the public and the parliament.