Yesterday in a speech commemorating the March 1 Independent Movement, President Park Geun-hye explained the details behind South Korea's agreement with Japan on the issue of comfort women victims in the Japanese military at the end of last year.

She explained, "It was the result of concentrated and multifaceted efforts made with the desperate thought that we should resolve this issue when one more elderly victim was alive." She stressed that the government worked for the elderly comfort women victims.

But her explanation revealed how distant her perception was with reality in which the elderly victims argue that the agreement is invalid. A group of the comfort women victims' bereaved families held a press conference at the House of Sharing on January 27 and announced, "The government's comfort women agreement is a political collusion that ignored the victims and thus cannot be accepted." According to a survey conducted by Gallup Korea on January 5-7, 54% of the respondents answered that the comfort women agreement was "improper," more than twice the number of people who thought the agreement was "well carried out" (26%). The victims and the majority of the public claimed that the agreement was a complete "defeat" of South Korea and called the agreement unacceptable, yet President Park praised herself, hailing the agreement as the fruit of efforts for the comfort women victims.

President Park simply mentioned the insincere attitude of the Japanese government, only in principle, which is also difficult to understand. Japan stated the "involvement of the military" and the "responsibility of the government" in the comfort women agreement. However, such a positive attitude completely changed as time passed, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has even denied publicly that the victims were taken and forced into sexual slavery by force. Even if President Park may not be able to nullify the agreement, she should at least sharply point out Japan's actions in denying the spirit of the agreement, yet she failed to do so. Park only stressed a future-oriented relationship between South Korea and Japan. But such a "future-oriented" relationship does not seem at all "future-oriented" for it is the result of our government's weak attitude towards Japan, restricted by the expression "final and irreversible resolution" in the agreement.

President Park said, "We must make North Korea clearly realize that they cannot maintain the regime with nuclear weapons," but this recalls her argument for the collapse of the North Korean regime. So did her words, "I desperately feel the need for a peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula to end the current situation as well." As she strengthens sanctions against North Korea while completely severing inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, the only reunification that we can look forward to is eventually one in which the North's Kim Jong-un regime collapses and the South absorbs the North. However, the idea of the collapse of the North Korean regime is a dangerous idea, heightening tensions between the North and the South, one that can also lead to a military collision. It has also been proven that a collapse of the North Korean regime is realistically impossible as long as China exists. Unlike in the past, China has agreed to strong sanctions against the North and proposed to discuss the denuclearization of North Korea along with a peace treaty. The South Korean government must prepare for changes in the diplomatic environment that will follow when the sanctions are in place.

President Park accused the National Assembly of "dereliction of duty," as the opposition party continues an unlimited debate (filibuster) to block the Terrorism Prevention Act. She is closing her eyes to the evil elements of the bill, which strengthens the National Intelligence Service's power to monitor the people and slighting a legal process in parliamentary democracy to block the unilateral ramming of a bill by the majority party.

President Park also emphasized, "At times like this, we need the voice of truth from the people. I ask that the citizens personally take action." This was an inappropriate remark that could be seen as the president intervening in politics at a time when she should remain neutral ahead of the April 13 general elections. President Park's perception of state administration revealed in her speech to commemorate the March 1 Independent Movement was disappointing.