Tag: Yoon Suk-yeol

Who would have thought an idiot 21 year old National Guardsman trying to win Internet arguments in a Discord chatroom would cause a massive slide in President Yoon’s approval ratings?:

Kim Tae-hyo, deputy national security director, speaks to reporters at Incheon International Airport, Saturday, after returning from his Washington trip. Yonhap

Expectations were high among presidential aides and ruling party politicians only two weeks ago when it was announced that President Yoon Suk Yeol would address the U.S. Congress on April 27 during his trip to Washington. 

Many thought that his state visit to the United States ― the first by a Korean head of state in 12 years ― would help him recover his image as a trusted leader and put a stop to his declining approval ratings following his hasty and controversial push to improve relations with Japan.

Yet skepticism is now growing that his visit will do little to achieve those goals. A mix of U.S. surveillance allegations, Washington’s irresponsible response and ― most importantly ― the Yoon administration’s poor handling of the situation has put the president in another political bind.

On Saturday, nearly 20,000 protesters gathered in the streets of central Seoul, denouncing the administration for its “humiliating diplomacy.”

“Despite the thief who stole our secret safe before the U.S. trip, [the administration] claims that it was a good thief and had goodwill,” activist Kim Min-woong said during the protest. “Shouldn’t the U.S. apologize? This country (Korea) has become a global pushover, which does not complain even when its sovereignty is violated. Humiliating.” (……)

With the U.S. offering no public apologies or promises to stop spying on Korea, the public has been upset, and they’re taking it out on Yoon. According to a poll released by Gallup Korea Friday, the president’s approval rating dropped to 27 percent from 31 percent a week ago, with 28 percent of the respondents disapproving of his diplomatic activities as their main reason. It was the first time his approval rating fell below 30 percent since November 2022 following the Itaewon crowd disaster, which killed at least 158 people.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is no surprise that the Korean left is demagoguing this issue acting like the ROK doesn’t collect intelligence on the United States.

This guy claims President Yoon has ruined the country and wants to kill him:

Police said Monday they were tracking a suspect who posted a terror threat online toward President Yoon Suk Yeol.

According to police, a 112 report was filed Sunday night that a terror threat had been posted to a moderate conservative online community.

he suspect uploaded the post at 10:22 p.m. on Sunday along with a photo of a pistol. The registration number of the pistol was covered.

“I bought the pistol with cryptocurrency and finally received it. The president has ruined the country and I will save the country by killing the president,” he wrote. The post was deleted some hours later.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I did not realize it has been this long since an official state visit to the U.S. by a South Korean leader:

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol will make a state visit to the United States late next month, and hold a summit with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the two countries’ alliance and deepen political, economic, security, and people-to-people ties.

The South Korean presidential office said Wednesday that Yoon will travel to the U.S. for a state visit in late April and that a state dinner is slated for April 26. The White House said U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and his South Korean counterpart Kim Sung-han discussed preparations for the upcoming visit by Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

It will be the first state visit to the U.S. by a South Korean leader in 12 years. The last South Korean head of state to do that was former President Lee Myung-bak, who was invited by then U.S. President Barack Obama in October 2011. Also, Yoon will be the second state guest invited by Biden since his inauguration in January 2021.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It is refreshing to hear a Korean president speak the truth about why the Japanese are increasing their military capabilities instead of demagoguing the issue for political benefit:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that Japan’s moves to bolster its defense capabilities are hard to stop in the face of the threat of North Korea’s missiles.

Yoon made the remark during a joint policy briefing from the foreign and defense ministers, referring to Japan’s recent increase in its defense budget and its inclusion of the “counterstrike” concept in its revised security documents.

“We can wonder how a country adopting a pacifist constitution can do such things, but if there are missiles flying over their heads and the possibility of a nuclear strike, it’s not easy to stop,” he said during the meeting at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae.

“Japan increased its defense budget because there are IRBMs flying over their heads, and decided to include the so-called ‘counterstrike’ concept in its defense plan,” he said, referring to intermediate-range ballistic missiles that North Korea fired over Japan. “How can anyone take issue with that?”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but DPRK apologists in the Korean left will take issue with anything the Japan does to defend themselves. At least the current Korean President is not one of them.

Via ROK Drop reader Korean Man comes this interesting article from Modern Diplomacy assessing that the impeachment of President Yoon next year is a possibility:

It is problematic to poke any other faults since Yoon has been running the country for a little over six months and has not had time to make any consequential decisions that could supply political ammunition against him. Blaming Yoon for the economic storm is risky as this could lead to questions about who had sowed the wind in the first place.

Technically, however, there is little to stop the Democrats from initiating the impeachment proceedings that could be announced if voted for by 200 out of 300 Members of Parliament and subsequently endorsed by the Constitutional Court. The Democrats already have 169 votes that could be beefed up to 200 by enlisting allies from other left-wing parties and Yoon’s enemies among the Conservatives like Lee Jun-seok’s faction. They have enough of their appointees in the Constitutional Court, and, as the Candlelight Vigil showed, public protests can be as effective as backdoor influence in terms of putting pressure on a public institution.

Lurking as yet another potential factor in the fray are the United States that may choose to assist in toppling President Yoon to replace him with a classic right-winger, given that the Democrats are as pro-American as the Conservatives anyway. If the United States are gearing up for a global confrontation, Washington would be better off with an amenable rather than pragmatic head of South Korean state.

Modern Diplomacy

You can read much more at the link, but it is very clear that the Democrat Party is trying to use the Itaewon crushing tragedy to attack the President with like they did the Sewol tragedy with former impeached President Park. However, they are not getting as much traction on Yoon as they hoped because his poll numbers continue to slowly rise after the tragedy. Also I am not sensing any unhappiness with President Yoon from the United States either so I don’t see any pressure on Yoon coming from that direction. As it is right now I don’t think impeachment will happen, but it is clearly the strategy I have been saying for weeks that the Democratic Party is trying to execute against President Yoon since the Itaewon crushing incident happened.

How did someone like this ever become a priest in the first place?:

A priest of the Anglican Church of Korea has been disqualified for openly wishing for President Yoon Suk-yeol’s plane to crash during his ongoing trip to Southeast Asia.

The Daejeon Diocese of the Anglican Church of Korea announced the disqualification of Father Kim Gyu-dong as a priest Monday after he called for a nationwide prayer for the crash of the presidential plane in his social media post.

President Yoon Suk-yeol accompanied by first lady Kim Keon-hee began a trip to Southeast Asia on Friday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group of 20 summits, and they are scheduled to return home Wednesday.

Kim recently uploaded a social media post about Yoon’s Southeast Asia trip, saying he wants the presidential plane to crash and wishes the entire nation would pray for the accident. Kim deleted the post later after his church was flooded with protests, explaining that the post was intended as a personal memo but was disclosed by mistake.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.