{"id":2199074,"date":"2022-09-30T11:00:49","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T11:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199074"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:11:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:11:31","slug":"yoon-and-his-critics-both-score-foreign-policy-own-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/09\/yoon-and-his-critics-both-score-foreign-policy-own-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Yoon and his critics both score foreign policy own goals"},"content":{"rendered":"
Yesterday South Korea\u2019s National Assembly <\/span>passed<\/span><\/a> a vote of no confidence in the foreign minister, Park Jin. Such motions are rare in Seoul, but when they happen, the minister in question almost always resigns.<\/span><\/p>\n The opposition made Park the fall guy for what its new leader Lee Jae-myung \u2013 who narrowly lost March\u2019s presidential election to Yoon \u2013 <\/span>called<\/span><\/a> the \u201cdiplomatic disaster\u201d of Yoon\u2019s latest overseas trip. The South Korean public concurs; Yoon\u2019s approval ratings hit <\/span>an all-time low<\/span><\/a> after he returned.<\/span><\/p>\n From the tenor of coverage in much South Korean media, you\u2019d think the trip was an unmitigated <\/span>fiasco<\/span><\/a> from start to finish. Much of that, it appears, stemmed from a hot-mic moment in which Yoon appeared to call U.S. lawmakers \u201cbastards\u201d \u2013 or perhaps something more explicit, depending on how you translate \u201cee saekki-deul\u201d (\uc774 \uc0c8\ub07c\ub4e4).<\/span><\/p>\n But Park Jin may just hold on, and not because the South Korean president is not forced to fire someone the National Assembly disapproves of them. No, it\u2019s because Yoon Suk-yeol\u2019s ventures to London, New York and Ottawa weren\u2019t all bad, and the whole brouhaha about it in Seoul is overblown and partisan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at the first leg of the trip. The U.K. was a last-minute addition, tacked on so that Yoon could pay his respects to the queen. But in London, his team simply didn\u2019t allow enough time for him to see Elizabeth II lying in state. His plane had left Seoul two hours <\/span>late<\/span><\/a>, for reasons unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n With dozens of world leaders flying in (imagine the security), precision timing was essential. A well-placed source told me that, while the logistics were difficult for everyone \u2013 Yoon was far from the only leader to have issues that day \u2013 the ROK delegation was particularly tricky.<\/span><\/p>\n These things happen. And U.K.-ROK relations are no worse for wear. Alliances are built on firmer foundations than scheduling snafus. Further, embarrassed South Koreans can rest assured that the British public knew absolutely nothing about this and wouldn\u2019t have cared anyway. At a time of national mourning, we Brits were focused firmly inward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Watching coverage of the funeral, I can\u2019t recall a single one of the foreign leaders present even being mentioned. The cameras didn\u2019t pan to presidents Biden and Macron, much less Yoon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n