{"id":2199080,"date":"2022-10-03T09:05:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-03T09:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/?p=2199080"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:11:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T07:11:31","slug":"why-yoon-suk-yeols-failings-at-home-hamstring-his-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koreapro.org\/2022\/10\/why-yoon-suk-yeols-failings-at-home-hamstring-his-foreign-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Yoon Suk-yeol\u2019s failings at home hamstring his foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"
Two weeks after his much-derided trip to the <\/span>U.N. General Assembly<\/span><\/a>, London and Ottawa, President Yoon Suk-yeol continues to hemorrhage public support.<\/span><\/p>\n As ever, much of the decline in his approval ratings appears due to forces entirely within his control. At the General Assembly, Yoon seemingly called U.S. lawmakers \u201cbastards\u201d in a hot mic incident the administration quickly tried to say never happened, then attacked the media for threatening \u201cnational security\u201d when suppression failed.<\/span><\/p>\n Conservative and progressive media alike became temporary allies in defense of press freedoms, keeping <\/span>the bastardgate controversy<\/span><\/a> alive and well.<\/span><\/p>\n Now, just 24% of South Koreans approve of the job Yoon is doing, according to the latest <\/span>Gallup Korea<\/span><\/a> survey. Yoon\u2019s approval rate ties an all-time low mark <\/span>from August<\/span><\/a> and is 9 percentage points lower than before his foreign excursion.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All regions disapprove of his job performance, as do both men and women. And among age cohorts, only among those 70 and older do a plurality (46%) give him positive marks. Among all other cohorts, majorities disapprove. Most striking is South Korea\u2019s youth: Just 9% of those aged 18 to 29 say Yoon is doing well.<\/span><\/p>\n The Gallup survey also provides evidence that Yoon\u2019s low approval ratings are getting in the way of one of his administration\u2019s top foreign policy priorities: repairing <\/span>relations with Japan<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n That is a sensitive agenda item at the best of times and requires that a ROK president has the political capital to spend on such an effort. Not only does he not have that capital, but the public is broadly against moving too quickly to repair relations with Japan.<\/span><\/p>\n Two-thirds of South Koreans (64%) say that there is no need to move quickly on improving relations with Japan unless there is first a change in Japan\u2019s attitude. Again, majorities of all regions, both genders, and every age cohort\u2014except those in their 70s and older\u2014agree.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n POLICY HANDICAP<\/b><\/p>\n Yoon and his efforts to improve relations with Japan are thus in a difficult position.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Should his administration reach an agreement with Tokyo that the general public perceives as making concessions to Japan, approval rates will drop further and push the president into an even more difficult position with even his most ardent supporters beginning to turn on him.<\/span><\/p>\n Tokyo is also less likely to engage in serious negotiations for fear that the Yoon administration will be unable to uphold any agreement reached in the face of significant domestic opposition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n