President seeks answer to deal with fuss about first woman
By Kwak Yeon-soo
President Yoon Suk Yeol will maintain one-on-one talks with Han Dong-hoon, chief of the ruling Folks Energy Occasion (PPP), after subsequent week’s by-elections, the presidential workplace stated Thursday.
Yoon’s determination to carry a non-public assembly with Han comes at Han’s request. Earlier, Han made repeated requests for a separate assembly with the president to debate urgent points, such because the deadlock over the federal government’s medical reform and controversies surrounding first woman Kim Keon Hee, together with allegations of inventory manipulation, interference in state affairs and graft involving a luxurious purse.
“The president has accepted strategies from his aides in regards to the want for a non-public assembly with Han. As Han is busy with by-election marketing campaign occasions, we’ll repair the date after the elections,” a senior presidential official stated.
The by-elections, set for Wednesday, will fill the highest posts in Busan’s Geumjeong District, Incheon’s Ganghwa County and the counties of Yeonggwang and Gokseong in South Jeolla Province, in addition to the put up of superintendent on the Seoul Metropolitan Workplace of Schooling.
Political analysts say Yoon modified his thoughts abruptly about assembly with Han within the wake of the principle opposition Democratic Occasion of Korea (DPK) ramping up assaults on the president and the primary woman, with some even speaking about his impeachment.
“If Yoon does not change at this level when public opinion is unrelentingly destructive on him, it means his state affairs might be doomed to fail. If he fails to resolve the Kim Keon Hee scandal now, it’ll weigh on him till the tip of his presidential time period,” stated Kim Sang-il, a political commentator.
Eom Kyeong-young, director of the Zeitgeist Institute, a non-public political assume tank, stated the most recent ballot exhibits Yoon’s deep unpopularity.
Yoon’s approval score fell to 24 %, the bottom since he took workplace in Could 2022, based on a ballot performed by the Nationwide Barometer Survey. The earlier low was 25 % two weeks in the past. The Nationwide Barometer Survey refers to a biweekly ballot of public opinion collectively gauged by 4 pollsters — Embrain Public, KSTAT Analysis, Korea Analysis and Hankook Analysis.
“The president’s approval score is under the PPP’s approval score (at 27 %). This implies that Yoon suffered a serious blow from the Yoon-Han conflict,” Eom stated.
Yoon and Han will possible talk about methods to counter the opposition’s intensifying offensive because the DPK has been concentrating on the primary woman’s allegations, together with her alleged interference within the ruling get together’s candidate nominations forward of the April basic elections.
“The DPK is planning to take step one in investigating the primary woman by adopting a everlasting particular counsel system. We may also search a particular counsel probe concurrently to reveal her in depth meddling in state affairs. If Han is ready to learn public sentiment, he mustn’t ask Kim to chorus from her public actions, however advise her to cooperate totally with the particular counsel,” Rep. Jo Seoung-lae, chief spokesperson of the DPK, stated Thursday. A day earlier, Han stated he believed the primary woman ought to chorus from public actions.
Observers stated expectations are low for a significant end result except Yoon makes a daring determination to simply accept the particular counsel supply.
“It might have been higher if that they had met earlier than the October by-elections, and the probability of any important breakthroughs seems slim, however the assembly itself is a constructive signal. Yoon ought to let go of the hierarchical government-party relations and approve of Han’s management,” Eom stated.
“The success of the assembly relies on how a lot Yoon is prepared to concede on tough points,” Kim stated. “It is best if Yoon makes a public apology and accepts a particular counsel supply to clear all allegations surrounding the primary woman. Yoon and Han might trade their views on the deadlock over the medical reform, nevertheless it’s too late to debate the medical faculty quota for 2025.”