Category: Politics-Korea

That did not take long for President Yoon to enter negative territory for his approval rating:

 President Yoon Suk-yeol’s disapproval rating surpassed his approval rating in a poll released Sunday.

The survey by Research View, conducted on 1,000 South Koreans aged 18 or over from last Tuesday to Thursday, was the latest in a series of national polls, in which those giving a negative assessment of Yoon’s performance outnumbered those who were bullish on the president.

This poll was conducted while Yoon was visiting Spain for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit, his first overseas trip since taking office in May.

According to Research View, 51 percent of the polled said Yoon has been doing an inadequate job as president, while 45 percent said he is handling state affairs well.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but according to the article a month ago his approval rating was at 53%. The only thing I can conclude is that voters are now holding him responsible for inflation and economic woes and going to NATO summits is not addressing these issues.

I guess animal rights is a pretty safe issue for the highly criticized first lady to come out in public in support of:

First lady Kim Keon-hee called for animal rights in her first media interview given since her husband, President Yoon Suk-yeol, took office on May 10. 

“Korea and China are the only two economically successful countries that consume dog meat,” Kim said during an interview with local newspaper Seoul Shinmun that was published on Monday. “I believe the universal culture (of not consuming dog meat) should be shared in Korea with other developed countries. Otherwise, it could stoke an anti-Korean sentiment,” Kim said. 

To end the practice, Kim said the government could support dog meat traders to transition into new industries, underlining the unsanitary environment in which dogs are raised before being consumed as meat.

“Dog meat is not good for health. Dogs that are raised to be consumed as meat are locked in small cages, where they eat, sleep and defecate all their lives. And some of them are even fed antibiotics,” Kim said. “Ultimately, dog meat consumption must be stopped out of respect for man’s best friend and life.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is looking like it is only a matter of time before ex-President Lee Myung-bak receives a pardon:

A high-level official in Yoon’s office told the JoongAng Ilbo Wednesday that the president will await the prosecutors’ decision. The head of the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, Hong Seung-wook, is known to be close to Yoon, who formerly served as head of the state prosecution agency.  
   
Even if Hong green-lights Lee’s suspension, the former president’s jail term will remain valid. Some legal experts predict Hong will authorize Lee’s suspension and Yoon will follow up with a presidential pardon on Liberation Day to finally set Lee free.  
   
Talk about a pardon for Lee has been going for months, especially after former conservative President Park Geun-hye was pardoned last December by former liberal President Moon Jae-in. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

In my opinion this is not a good look by these people protesting outside Moon Jae-in’s house and making a nuisance of themselves to people in the neighborhood. Whatever validity they have in their complaints I think is lost by how much of a nuisance they are making of themselves:

On early Sunday, the otherwise quiet village of Pyeongsan in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province was disrupted by sounds blaring from a minivan covered with insults about former President Moon Jae-in.

“My protest is for Moon to receive legal punishment for the crimes he committed, and be expelled from Yangsan,” said Choi Young-il, a Seoul resident and member of the group calling itself the Freedom-Justice-Truth-Revolution Party. 

A month had passed after Moon had stepped down as president of South Korea, but the series of protests at his Yangsan home had persisted throughout. The narrow road near the Pyeongsan town hall has become ground zero for conflicts surrounding the former president.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is another sign that Korea’s conservative People Power Party continues to be on the rise in the wake of the election of Yoon Suk-yeol:

Leaders of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Thursday offered to quit the interim leadership committee en masse following the party’s crushing defeat in this week’s local elections.

Rep. Yoon Ho-jung and Park Ji-hyun, the DP’s co-interim chiefs, announced that all eight members of the party’s emergency leadership committee will step down to take responsibility for the defeat in Wednesday’s local elections.

The PPP won 12 out of 17 key races for big city mayors and provincial governors, including Seoul, while the DP won only five key races — three in its stronghold of the Jeolla provinces, as well as Gyeonggi and Jeju governorships.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but of note in this election is that Lee Jae-myung who ran against President Yoon was elected to a National Assembly seat out of Incheon and former Presidential Candidate who sided with Yoon was elected to a National Assembly seat in Bundang.

This is actually smart move by President Yoon to try and de-politicize the Gwangju Uprising issue from the liberals:

President Yoon Suk-yeol and some 100 lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) traveled to the southwestern city of Gwangju on Wednesday and paid their respects to the victims of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in an unprecedented outreach to the home turf of the main opposition party.

The civil revolt, in which Gwangju citizens rose up against the then military junta led by late former President Chun Doo-hwan, has long been associated with the liberal opposition Democratic Party (DP), and the conservative party has kept a distance from it amid perceptions its roots have ties to Chun.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Moon Jae-in definitely did leave office on a much higher note than his predecessors:

“Thank you, thank you everyone,” Moon spoke into a microphone before boarding a KTX train around noon after attending the inauguration of Yoon Suk-yeol.  
   
“Who among past presidents could have had such a beautiful end? Thanks to all of you, I was a happy president until the end.”   
   
When the couple arrived in front of the Pyeongsan village hall, located only a few blocks from their retirement home, hundreds of people were wearing blue shirts or caps and holding blue balloons, Moon’s signature color since his 2017 presidential campaign.They erupted in cheers as the former presidential couple appeared.   
   
Moon is the first president to retire with an approval rating over 40 percent since direct elections were restored in 1987. His approval rating a year into his presidency was also the highest for a Korean president in history, 83 percent, according to Gallup Korea.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

She definitely took the advice many were offering that she keep an extreme low profile due to the various minor scandals that were surrounding her during the campaign. It looks like the Yoon administration will now slowly role here back out into the public eye:

First lady Kim Keon-hee made her first official appearance in public on Tuesday after keeping a low profile for months as she accompanied President Yoon Suk-yeol on a visit to the Seoul National Cemetery and then to his inauguration ceremony.

Kim first paid tribute to fallen patriots at the cemetery together with Yoon before moving to the National Assembly Plaza for the inauguration ceremony, where some 41,000 people gathered to witness the start of the new government.

It was the first time the couple has made a public appearance together since Yoon’s election in March.

After arriving at the National Assembly, Kim, dressed in white, walked behind Yoon, greeting well-wishers lining the path to the podium with fist bumps.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.