Category: Politics-Korea

I don’t remember a President having their approval rating dropping this fast before:

What began as an approval rating of 52 percent in his first week in office was down to 24 percent by the first week of August, or only half of the 48.6 percent he won in votes during the election, according to Gallup Korea. 

Yoon’s personnel choices were cited as among the biggest factors behind the slide, the pollster said, as controversy erupted over Education Minister Park Soon-ae’s plan to lower the elementary school entry age to 5. Park resigned last week.

The minister was not the only person to draw fire. Yoon’s decision to abolish the first lady’s office backfired when friends and acquaintances of first lady Kim Keon-hee were found to be accompanying and assisting her on official trips, including on Yoon and Kim’s visit to Spain in June.

Economic challenges weighed heavily on the new administration as prices soared along with the interest rate and exchange rate. The COVID-19 pandemic showed no signs of abating as cases mounted with the spread of new variants, while flash floods in the capital area killed at least a dozen people and exposed deep flaws in the country’s flood control systems.

To add to the administration’s woes, the ruling People Power Party was in a constant state of turmoil that was worsened by the embarrassing disclosure of texts Yoon exchanged with the party’s floor leader in which Yoon was seen backbiting about suspended party leader Lee Jun-seok.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if his numbers continue to decline it makes me wonder if the Korean left will try and invent some way to impeach him like they did to former President Park Geun-hye?

This makes me wonder what the investigation would have determined if President Yoon had lost the election:

 A university on Monday cleared First Lady Kim Keon-hee of plagiarism after a monthslong probe into in her academic papers.

Kookmin University in Seoul conducted an investigation into Kim’s four research papers over allegations of misconduct raised last year. 

Kim earned her PhD in design at the university in 2008.

The university said its investigating committee concluded her doctoral dissertation and two other papers “constitute neither plagiarism nor research misconduct that seriously deviates from the range normally accepted in the academic disciplines.” 

As for the remaining paper, it was impossible to verify whether there had been misconduct, the school said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This was pretty dumb, you would think these politicians would know better than to have their phones out with cameras around:

The acting chairman of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) has apologized after a text conversation he had with President Yoon Suk-yeol was caught on camera, in which Yoon was seen backbiting about suspended party chief Lee Jun-seok.

PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong took over as acting leader of the party early this month after the party’s ethics committee suspended Lee’s party membership for six months over allegations of sexual bribery and a cover-up.

On Tuesday, Kweon was caught on press cameras writing a text message to Yoon on his mobile phone. The screen also showed earlier messages from Yoon saying he was happy with the change in the party’s leadership and took a swipe at Lee.

“Our party is doing a good job. We should keep this up,” Yoon wrote in the messages sent via Telegram. “Since the replacement of the party chair who used to shoot upon ourselves, our party has become different.”

Yoon was seen criticizing Lee for focusing on an internal fight rather than attacking the opposition party.

Kweon said in response, “We will uphold your wish, and show unity between the party and the government.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

He hasn’t been President very long, but a 32.5% approval rate is definitely something for the Yoon administration to be concerned about:

President Yoon Suk-yeol’s approval rating fell to 32.5 percent, with his disapproval rating rising to nearly twofold of his approval rating, a survey showed Wednesday.

The Rnsearch poll of 1,045 voters conducted from Saturday to Tuesday showed 32.5 percent of respondents approved of the way Yoon handled state affairs while 63.5 percent gave a negative assessment.

Yoon’s approval rating, which came in at 52.5 percent four weeks earlier, has been trending lower in the past month. After falling to 42.6 percent in the same poll a week ago, it plunged 10.1 percentage points to 32.5 percent this week.

In the same period, those who were unhappy with Yoon’s performance jumped from 43 percent to 63.5 percent.

The latest poll comes amid growing concerns over the economy and political turmoil at the ruling People Power Party (PPP).

Korea has been grappling with rising inflation and global supply chain disruptions, which prompted the central bank to deliver an unprecedented 0.5 percentage point rate hike early Wednesday.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

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.